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The Social Setting of Hysteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Richard Mayou
Richard Mayou*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Headington, Oxford
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Summary

Previous reviews of hysteria have emphasized the most severe and disabling forms and ignored evidence from a wide variety of sources. It is argued that hysteria is more prevalent in medical settings than is usually recognized, that the same psychological mechanisms are of wide occurrence, often being accepted as normal for the culture. Discussion of the social factors affecting prevalence suggests that there is a universal potential for the hysterical reaction, with individual variation in susceptibility in appropriate circumstances.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 127 , Issue 5 , November 1975 , pp. 466 - 469
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

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