A History of Hysteria Trivia Quiz

Answer: womb

The Greek word "hystera" simply means "womb". It was then Latinized into the word "uterus", which is the anatomical name in English. The Greeks and the Romans were already linking specific behaviours with women, and in particular with their reproductive organs and cycles.

For example, Hippocrates defined hysteria as "the revolt of the womb against neglect". Galen, a Roman physician of the 2nd century CE, noticed that hysteria was most frequent among virgins, priestesses and widows!

Answer: The Egyptians

Records of unexplained symptoms touching specifically women were found on Egyptian papyri dating back from 1 900 BCE. Egyptian doctors suggested that the uterus was an autonomous organ which could ascend into the abdomen and cause havoc on its way. This led to treatments designed to keep the uterus down, among others, applying sweet-smelling substances on genital parts to attract it.

The Greeks' theories about hysteria, over a thousand years later, developed the "wondering womb" hypothesis further, especially Hippocrates, who wrote extensively about "hysterike pnix", or "suffocation caused by the womb". The Romans, especially Galen, slowly moved away from this theory.

During the Enlightenment, many scientists ventured that the brain, and not the uterus, was at the root of hysteria. Women were considered to be of a feeble mind compared to men, which is why they were thought to be the ones showing signs of hysteria, and not men.

Answer: sneezing

The Greeks and Romans had already claimed that hysteria was linked to the uterus and sex, and these beliefs were reintroduced during the Middle Ages as more Ancient texts became available, thus changing the perception of hysteria from a supernatural (demonic) disease to a physical one.

Based on the translations of Hippocrates's and Galen's texts from Ancient Greek and Latin into Arabic, which were in turn translated back into Ecclesiastic Latin, it was determined that the womb was suffocating the body. Fumigation, leading to sneezing, would push the uterus down and allow the patient's organs to resume their normal function.

Other prescriptions included marriage (for single women) and intercourse (for married women only), based on the idea that male fluids would keep the uterus down. "Pelvic massages" were sometimes prescribed as well, but they were seen as the last resort for extreme cases, and they were not to be done by male physicians. Instead, for matters concerning female sexuality, pregnancy, birth, etc., a midwife or elder woman was generally put in charge.

During the Enlightenment era, men became the authority in all things scientific and medical, and treatment of hysteria was no longer left in the hand of midwives.

Answer: Malleus Maleficarum

The "Malleus Maleficarum" (Latin for "The Hammer of Witches") is one of the most famous books on witches. Its aim was to help witch-hunters identify witches, who were almost always women. The book called the uterus the source of evil, and hysteria ceased to be a physical disease to become a supernatural one. Prayers, incantations and exorcism were suggested, as well as protective amulets, to cure the possessed and protect the pure. Torture and executions were often carried out as well.

The "Formicarius" was first printed in 1475, and it is one of the earliest books discussing witchcraft. It is also the first book which suggested that women, and not men, were performing magic. "Formicarius" means "the ant colony" in Latin and refers to a harmonious society.

The "De magorum dæmonomania libri" or "On the Demon Worship of Sorcerers" was first published in French in 1580. It mentions several cases of witchcraft, pacts with the Devil and werewolves, and argues that rumours about witches are almost always true.

"Summis desiderantes affectibus" ("Desiring with supreme ardor") was a papal bull written by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484. It explicitely gave authority to Inquisitors to use any means possible to discover and prosecute witches. This bull is often viewed as the starting point of the witch hunts which spread through Europe and later to the United States, with the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693.

Answer: a milk-free and egg-free diet

It was believed that reading and other intellectually stimulating activities were not good for the female body, which - it was claimed by some - would develop shrivelled organs and the like. (In the 19th century some absurd and lurid stories were circulated about intellectual women). Therefore, people were suspicious of women who read, especially books "not intended for a female audience".
Isolation was thought to calm or reset the mind, so many women were ordered by their doctors to solitary confinement in their own bedroom, or in an institution. There, they were often not allowed to even get out of bed or receive visitors. The American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman received such treatment in 1885 or 1886 and her short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" was inspired by her experience.
"Pelvic massages" were used to create what was called "hysterical paroxysm", in modern words, an orgasm. In extreme cases, women would be committed in an institution and would often undergo hysterectomy.

Answer: it was tedious and time-consuming

Doctors complained of pains and fatigue in their wrists and hands and found the treatment time-consuming and hard work, as most women would not easily reach climax. Very little was known about female sexual pleasure, and most doctors actually believed that women's body was not designed to have orgasms. Most doctors, therefore, could not conceive that there was, in fact, any sexual connotation to such treatment. As a result, doctors and patients alike were not aroused or satisfied by these humiliating and often gruesome treatments.

The first "vibrators" were developed during the second half of the 19th century by physicians who were trying to find a way to provide treatment to hysterical women (whose numbers were high) while relieving doctors from physical effort. It was not until the 1920's that vibrators were seen as objects for sexual pleasure (as opposed to devices to provide medical treatment) and disappeared from catalogues and doctors' offices.

Answer: Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) was a French neurologist who worked extensively with hypnosis, especially when treating patients with hysteria. He worked at the Salpêtrière hospital, which became famous worldwide as a centre for psychiatric disorders. Freud became one of Charcot's numerous students in 1885. It is also Charcot who gave Parkinson's disease and Tourette syndrome their names, in honour of the men who first described them.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Josef Breuer (1842-1925) published a book together, "Studies on Hysteria", where they discuss treatments for several cases, including the famous case of Anna O. The two men eventually had a falling out and their theories developed in different directions.

Georges Gilles de la Tourette (1857-1904), a former student of Charcot's, described what he called "disease of tics" in 1884. In 1893, a former patient shot him in the head, leaving him with brain damage. He continued working until 1902 (even publishing articles about hysteria), when his erratic behaviour led to his dismissal and subsequent confinement in a psychiatrist hospital.

Answer: He did not believe hysteria could be cured by physical treatments

Freud had studied with Jean-Martin Charcot as a young doctor, and believed hysteria to be possible in both men and women, even though women were more prone to the condition. Freud believed the source of hysteria was in the brain, and not in the uterus. In his early days, however, he still had various surgical procedures performed to cure or help patients, but by the turn of the 20th century, he grew more and more convinced that psycho-analysis (a term he coined) would bring the cure to hysteria patients.

Between the 1850's and the early 20th century, hysteria went from being seen as a physical condition, to a neurological one, and finally to a psychological one. Later still, it came to be seen as social.

Answer: the oppressive patriarchy

According to many feminist thinkers, patriarchal societies imposed too many restrictions on and frustrations for women to remain physically and psychologically sane. Hysteria became widespread during the 19th century and early 20th century among white middle class women in Western countries because, while these women were able to access a certain level of education, they were nonetheless limited by men and society and confined to unsatisfying and frustrating roles. According to them, many so-called "hysterics" were in fact feminists, for instance Joan of Arc, Olympe de Gouges (beheaded in 1793 during the French Terror), Jane Addams, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Camille Claudel, etc.

Answer: 1980

In Victorian times, a physician listed possible symptoms of hysteria. His list was 75 pages long and he thought it was incomplete. It included insomnia, anxiety, nagging your husband, and sexual fantasy as symptoms; epilepsy, syphilis, and many neurological disorders were also originally classified as hysteria. Hysteria was therefore a "catch-all" diagnosis.

As scientific and psychological knowledge and understanding increased, cases of hysteria decreased. By 1952, clinical diagnosis of hysteria had almost entirely disappeared and in 1980, the illness was removed from the list of mental disorders. It was, however, replaced by "conversion disorder", a diagnosis which is still used today.