Hysteria : the biography / Andrew Scull.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Scull, Andrew, 1947-

Series:

Biographies of disease (Oxford, England)

Biographies of disease

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hysteria--History.

Hysteria.

Hysteria--history.

History, Modern 1601-.

History.

Medical Subjects:

Hysteria--history.

History, Modern 1601-.

Physical Description:

vii, 223 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.

Summary:

As the history of diseases goes, hysteria must be one of the most colourful and shocking. It has certainly been one of the most striking for the mutations it has undergone in different cultural and historical contexts. At various times an 'English Malady', a condition arising from excessive refinement, a result of female biology and sexuality, a problem of weak men in wartime, it has now officially disappeared, or is at any rate no longer medically recognized under that name. Andrew Scull follows the extraordinary trajectory of the condition, from its earliest accounts through gruesome treatments and voyeuristic public demonstrations, to modern obsolescence.

Contents:

Prologue : suffocation of the mother

Mysteria

Neurologie

An English malady?

Reflexly mad

American nervousness

A hysterical circus

Freudian hysterics

The wounds of war

L'hystérie morte?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199560967

019956096X

OCLC:

421361513