Changes
minor, fixed 'necessary'
==Definition==
The nosographical category of [[hysteria]] dates back to ancient Greek medicine, which conceived of it as a female disease caused by the womb wandering throughout the body (in Greek ''hysteron'' means womb).
The term acquired an important place in [[psychiatry]] in the nineteenth century, especially in the work of Jean-Martin Charcot, under whom [[Freud]] studied in 1885-6.
[[Freud]]'s initial thesis (1896) was first properly psychoanalytic case history concerns the so-called treatment of a hysterical woman known as "[[seduction theoryDora]] which held that hysteria and other neuroses originate in an experience of actual sexual abuse that has been repressed, but which can be recovered. "<ref>[[Freud|Freud initially used hypnosis to recover these memories, but abandoned it in favor of what Anna OSigmund]]. so felicitously termed the "[[talking cureWorks of Sigmund Freud|Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria]]", 1905e. [1901]. Freud subsequently revised his original seduction theory in the course of a long correspondence with his collaborator Fliess and argued that hysteria stemmed from unconscious fantasies about incest that were bound up with [[oedipus complexSE]]VII, though he never denied either the existence or the pathogenic effects of real abuse3. </ref>
==Symptomatology==
The classic [[symptom]]atology of [[hysteria]] involves physical [[symptoms]] such as local paralyses, pains and anaesthesias, for which no organic cause can be found, and which are articulated around an "imaginary autonomy" which bears no relation to the real [[structure]] of the nervous system<ref>{{L}} 1951b. "[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Some Reflections on the Ego]]," ''Int. J. Psycho-Anal.'', vol. 34, 1953. p. 13</ref>.
However, although [[Lacan]] does discuss the [[symptom]]atology of [[hysteria]], linking it to the [[imago]] of the [[fragmented body]],<ref>{{E}} p. 5</ref> he comes to define [[hysteria]] not as a set of [[symptom]]s but as a [[structure]].
This means that a [[subject]] may well exhibit none of the typical bodily [[symptom]]s of [[hysteria]] and yet still be diagnosed as a [[hysteric]] by a [[Lacan]]ian [[analyst]].
==Neurosis==
Like [[Freud]], [[Lacan]] regards [[hysteria]] as one of the two main forms of [[neurosis]], the other being [[obsessional neurosis]].
In the [[seminar]] of 1955-6 [[Lacan]] develops the idea that the [[structure]] of [[neurosis]] is that of a question, and that what differentiates [[hysteria]] from [[obsessional neurosis]] is the nature of this question.
Whereas [[obsessional neurosis]] concerns the question of the [[subject]]'s [[existence]], [[hysteria]] concerns the question of the [[subject]]'s [[sexual position]].
This question may be phrased "Am I a [[man]] or a [[woman]]?" or, more precisely, "What is a [[woman]]?"<ref>{{S3}} p.170-5</ref>
This is true for both [[male]] and [[female]] [[hysterics]].<ref>{{S3}} p.178</ref>
==Femininity==
[[Lacan]] thus reaffirms the ancient view that there is an intimate connection between [[hysteria]] and [[femininity]].
Indeed, most [[hysterics]] are [[women]], just as most [[obsessional neurotics]] are [[men]].
==Structure==
The [[structure]] of [[desire]], as [[desire]] of the [[Other]], is shown more clearly in [[hysteria]] than in any other [[clinical structure]]; the [[hysteric]] is precisely someone who appropriates another's [[desire]] by [[identifying]] with them.
==Dora Case==
For example, [[Dora]] identifies with Herr K, taking as her own the [[desire]] which she perceives him to have for Frau K.<ref>{{S4}} p. 138</ref>
However, as the case of [[Dora]] also shows, the [[hysteric]] only sustains the [[desire]] of the [[Other]] on condition that she is not the [[object]] of that [[desire]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.222</ref>
She cannot bear to be taken as the [[object]] of [[desire]] because that would revive the wound of [[privation]].<ref>{{S17}} p. 84</ref>
==Treatment==
It is this privileged relation between the [[structure]] of [[desire]] and the [[structure]] of [[hysteria]] which explains why [[Lacan]] devotes so much attention to this [[clinic]]al [[structure]], and why he develops the idea in the 1970s that it is necessary, in [[psychoanalytic treatment]], to "[[hysteria|hystericize]]" the [[analysand]].
==Discourse of the Hysteric==
[[Hysteria]], as a [[clinic]]al [[structure]], must be distinguished from [[Lacan]]s concept of the [[discourse]] of the [[hysteric]], which designates a particular form of [[discourse|social bond]].
==See Also==
{{See}}
* [[Analyst]]
* [[Desire]]
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* [[Discourse]]
* [[Neurosis]]
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* [[Obsessional neurosis]]
* [[Other]]
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* [[Structure]]
* [[Symptom]]
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* [[Treatment]]
* [[Woman]]
{{Also}}
== References ==
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[[Category:Dictionary]][[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Sexuality]]
[[Category:Practice]]
[[Category:Treatment]]
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