psychoanalysis – LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

Hysteria:

“Hysteria” is an old psychological and medical term, no longer used today, but historically very influential.

Origins

Ancient Greece: The word comes from the Greek hystera (meaning “womb”). Hippocrates and later physicians thought symptoms of hysteria came from a “wandering uterus” inside women’s bodies.
Middle Ages / Renaissance: It was linked to witchcraft, demonic possession, or spiritual weakness.
19th century medicine: Doctors described hysteria as a disorder — mostly in women — causing fainting, paralysis, seizures, emotional outbursts, or strange bodily symptoms without clear physical cause.

In Psychology & Psychiatry

Jean-Martin Charcot (1800s, Paris): Studied hysterical seizures, showing they were psychological, not neurological.
Sigmund Freud & Josef Breuer: Treated hysteria with hypnosis and developed the “talking cure,” which laid the foundation for psychoanalysis. Freud proposed that hysteria came from repressed traumatic memories.
20th century: The concept evolved into what we now call somatic symptom disorders, conversion disorder, or sometimes dissociative disorders.

Today

The term “hysteria” is no longer a clinical diagnosis (it was officially dropped in DSM-III, 1980).
Modern psychology recognizes that the symptoms once called “hysterical” often come from trauma, stress, or unconscious processes.

In psychology, the idea of hysteria has gone through a major transformation.

1. Classical View (1800s — early 1900s)

Jean-Martin Charcot (Paris neurologist) studied patients with dramatic paralysis, fainting, seizures, and loss of speech without medical cause. He treated them with hypnosis, showing symptoms could be influenced psychologically.
Sigmund Freud & Josef Breuer: Saw hysteria as rooted in unconscious conflict and repressed trauma. Their case studies (like Anna O.) became the foundation of psychoanalysis. They described hysteria as the “conversion” of emotional distress into bodily symptoms.

2. Mid-20th Century

Hysteria became an umbrella label for puzzling symptoms with no physical explanation.
It carried heavy gender bias (diagnosed mostly in women, often dismissed as “emotional” or “irrational”).
Critics in psychology and psychiatry pushed for more precise, less stigmatizing diagnoses.

3. Modern Psychology (since DSM-III, 1980)

The term hysteria was dropped, replaced with more specific categories:

Conversion Disorder → psychological stress manifests as neurological symptoms (e.g., paralysis, blindness, seizures without medical basis).
Somatic Symptom Disorder → excessive distress about physical symptoms.
Dissociative Disorders → when trauma or stress causes disruptions in memory, identity, or consciousness.

4. Psychological Understanding Today

What used to be called “hysteria” is now seen as the mind-body connection under stress and trauma.
Symptoms are not “faked” but are real expressions of psychological distress.
Modern therapy focuses on trauma-informed care, stress regulation, and integration rather than labeling someone as “hysterical.”

Shervan K Shahhian

A very good explanation of Psychoanalytic theory or Psychoanalysis therapeutic techniques:

Psychoanalytic theory, developed by Sigmund Freud, and psychoanalysis therapeutic techniques are both integral components of the field of psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalytic theory seeks to understand human behavior and mental processes by exploring the unconscious mind, which Freud believed played a significant role in shaping thoughts, emotions, and behavior. According to this theory, our unconscious contains repressed desires, unresolved conflicts, and early childhood experiences that influence our thoughts and actions. Psychoanalysis aims to bring these unconscious processes into awareness to promote psychological growth and healing.

Psychoanalysis therapeutic techniques are the methods used by psychoanalysts to help patients gain insight into their unconscious mind and address underlying psychological issues. Here are some key techniques used in psychoanalysis:

Free association: The patient is encouraged to speak freely and without censorship, expressing whatever thoughts, feelings, or memories come to mind. This technique allows access to the unconscious and reveals hidden conflicts and associations.
Dream analysis: Dreams are seen as the “royal road to the unconscious.” Psychoanalysts interpret the symbolic content of dreams to uncover unconscious wishes, fears, and conflicts.
Interpretation: The analyst offers interpretations of the patient’s thoughts, behaviors, dreams, and patterns of relating, aiming to make unconscious dynamics conscious. This process helps the patient gain insight into the underlying causes of their difficulties.
Transference analysis: The patient may transfer feelings, attitudes, and expectations from past relationships onto the analyst. This transference provides an opportunity to explore unresolved conflicts and emotions in a therapeutic setting.
Resistance analysis: Patients may unconsciously resist aspects of the therapeutic process to protect themselves from painful emotions or insights. The analyst helps identify and explore these resistances to facilitate progress.
Working through: This involves revisiting and reprocessing past experiences, conflicts, and emotions over time. By working through these issues in the therapeutic relationship, the patient gains a deeper understanding and resolution of their difficulties.

Overall, psychoanalytic theory and its therapeutic techniques aim to bring unconscious processes to consciousness, address unresolved conflicts, and foster self-awareness and personal growth. While the approach has evolved and been critiqued over time, it continues to be influential in the field of psychology and psychotherapy.