The May/June issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine has a story titled “Mass Delusions and Hysterias”. This magazine is put out by scientists who see irrationality as the curse of mankind and who exist to promote science and reason. In the article on Hysterias, however, they unashamedly support the ideas of 19th century psychiatrists and cheerily talk about conversion disorders which are “bodily complaints which have no organic basis”. They are supposed to be brought on by psychological stress. Wait a minute - wasn’t tuberculosis once thought to an hysterical illness? Women who “attempted intellectual pursuits beyond their capacity” were also supposed to be danger of developing hysteria.
So:Do doctors still believe in hysterical blindness? Can physical symptoms cause someone to be committed to a psychiatric institution?
That link says that tuberculosis was thought to be a disease of passion, just as cancer is thought to be a disease of repressed passion today. That’s not the same thing as thinking that it is mind-induced.
G. I read that article and you have to admit the missing penises thing was mass hysteria. And massly hysterical. But they probably could get committed by a family member-I don’t know if the state would commit them.
When I started college it was believed that the most male erectile dysfunction, then known as impotence was caused by psychological reasons. Now most is traced to physical problems. Menstrual cramps and painful periods were seen as mainly psychological but now they are seen as having a physical cause.
My husband was diagnosed with a conversion disorder. He could not walk. That diagnosis was only overturned when a surgeon removed bone chips from his knee and repaired and resculpted his entire knee.
When no physical cause is found for an illness, some doctors are prove to attributing it to a mental illness. It is convenient and is an excuse for them not to see certain bothersome patients.
OTOH certain illnesses such the glove paralysis not only do not have a visible physical cause but also have good reasons why they would not have a physical cause. The hand and just the hand is unlikely to be paralysed due to physical causes because there are multiple nerve involved and if all are damaged then more than just the hand is affected.
That is one of the saddest stories I have ever heard.
Hysteria is an unscientific Freudian concept and one I thought Sigmund Freud associated mainly with women. The Skeptical Inquirer does indeed give 7 examples of female hysteria in which sociologists demonstrate a lewd interest in the hysterical fits of repressed nuns who meow like cats and bite their companions. The nuns do this apparently because they lead celibate lives and take vows of poverty. Does that mean tabloid journalists spend a lot of their time on convent stake outs? Nuns still don’t have much money. The magazine says this kind of thing can also happen in repressed institutions like the police or military but when was the last time you heard about Marines having missing penis fits?
Hysteria may be a dubious concept but compulsive editing may not be. I have to say that the nuns who meow like cats and bite their companions in the Skeptical Inquirer story were nuns of the middle ages. I didn’t say that. My point was lost. It is this: if nuns did that then you’d expect them to do that now. Their conditions never change much. But how many modern day nuns become the fodder of tabloid newspapers - or even veterinarians - by imitating animals? I would like to know if attempts at re-editing are frowned upon and whether I have outstayed my welcome by replying to my own posts too much. Thank you.
You can never predict what a female is going to do. That’s why they hesitate to give them automatic weapons or the nuclear codes. Re-edit all you like. Clarification is refreshing. You cannot outstay your welcome here on the Stargate homepage. I have laid claim to that title and intend to defend it with all of your insignificant lives.
Thank you for your support. But I don’t see unpredictability as being a specifically female phenomenon. Take Kim Chong-il of North Korea, a male with automatic weapons and a nuclear code. The only predictable thing about him is his continued devotion to a Christopher Walken coiffure.
Actually, I think that nuns in the middle ages were probably a lot different than now-I guess the basic concept would be the same but a lot, lot of nuns is middle ages were forced there by their families, went there to escape a forced marriage, sent as punishment, and such. Most of the nuns were extremely cloistered and were only allowed to do a minimal of activities outside of the convent. There are still cloistered nuns, but they choose to be. Most nuns now are out in the world now. A lot don’t even have to wear habits anymore.
Psychosomatic disorders do exisit; however, they are no less “real” or “faked” because of the absence of a physical casual agent. The body reacts to the mind. An ulcer brought on by stress is a good example.
Misappling a diagnosis does not invalidate the whole concept; just becasue the potential for hysteria was used to manipulate women does not mean that the notion of pychosomatic illnesses is invalid.
Pychosomatic disorders are certainly not restricted to females, despite the etymology of the word ‘Hysteria’. Shellshock (WWI), Post-tramatic stress syndrome, and Gulf War syndrome are three disorders widely recognized as pyschosomatic but which are associated almost exclusivily with males.
An excellent book on this subject is Elizabeth Showalter’s Hystories which looks at the medical and social aspects of psychosomatic disorders from the nineteenth century through the present day.
Although stress can aggravate ulcers it has been shown that most are caused by a bacteria whose name I shall now attempt to spell–er no I won’t. ???lybacter.
And most can be completeley cured with anti-biotics combined with ant-acids and I think Bismuth was used in the trials too.
Amazing how illness is psychosomatic when it suits politicians, such as carpal tunnel syndrome .Especially when it involves compensation.
The madness of King George is now attributed to variagated porphyria.
It is now believed that many forms of schizophrenia are genetic and not as previously imagined er imagined as it were.
I believe this happens when someone faces a trauma they can’t deal with and their vision shuts down. It’s not clear whether their eyes physically don’t work or their mind can’t process the information gathered by the eye.
One anecdote. One of my friends was molested when she was little and lost a lot of her eyesight. They examined her eyes and they were within the normal shape for clear vision. She was sent to therapy but it didn’t clear up. As an adult she had her eyes examined and in fact they were severely misshapen, and she is still legally blind. Now, did the eyes adapt to how she saw the world and become distorted (leaving out the possibility that the original tests were wrong)? Very mysterious stuff.
And what about addictions? Yes, they are a physical dependence but in part they are because your body convinces your mind that you will die if you don’t fulfill your craving. Alcohol has changed from a character flaw to a disease but it’s still a disease with strong psychological aspects.
Well, being sent to “therapy” for hysterical blindness doesn’t sound so bad does it? What about a course of Gary Kusav tapes and a Deepak Chopra weekend retreat - that sounds all right.
But what if your doctor thought you were just attention seeking or using physical symptoms to avoid activities you may find unpleasant? Those are definitions of hysteria. Not all pychiatrists are mystical old gentlemen with beards. Cognitive therapy, for instance, as far as I can tell is a bit like training animals. Rewards for being good and punishments for being bad. Under this regime a blind person would be confined to their room until they could see.
May be we see doctors through rose-tinted glasses, watch too many Chicago Hopes etc. May be people expect them too much from them. Even famous people seem to be susceptible to misdiagnosis and negligence. I though Curt Cobain may have been one of these. Magazine articles used to occasionally comment on his stomach pains and “untreatable ulcers.” May be he was just trying to medicate himself. Greg Dulli from the Afghan Whigs has been written about in the same way.