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Hysteria, Play-acting and Courage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

David C. Taylor
David C. Taylor*
Affiliation:
University of Manchester, Jesson House (RMCH), Manchester Road, Swinton, Manchester M271FG
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Extract

Levi-Strauss (1977) describes what happened to a child, in a primitive tribe, accused of sorcery–a crime punishable by death. The child invented more and more complex stories by way of self-justification. In the end his accusers believed his outlandish explanation because “the choice is not between this system and another but between this system and no system at all-chaos.” The child's plight can represent the close affinity between magic and hysteria; his accusers might represent those contemporary psychiatrists who would prefer any system of classification of hysteria, however absurd, to no system at all (Sheehan & Sheehan, 1982a, b; DSM-III, 1980).

Type
Symposium on Hysteria
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 149 , Issue 1 , July 1986 , pp. 37 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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