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Hysteria

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{{Top}}hystérie{{Bottom}} ==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. ==Sigmund Freud==It was in the course of treating [[hysterical]] [[patient]]s in the 1890s that [[Freud]] developed the [[psychoanalytical]] method of [[treatment]] ([[free association]], etc.) and began to [[form]] the major [[concepts]] of [[psychoanalytic theory]]. [[Freud]]'s first properly [[psychoanalytic]] [[case]] [[history]] concerns the treatment of a hysterical woman known as "[[Dora]]."<ref>[[Freud|Freud, Sigmund]]. "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria]]" (, 1905e. [1901]. [[SE]] VII, 3.</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 [[hystériebodily]] [[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]]||* [[Discourse]]* [[Neurosis]]||* [[Obsessional neurosis]]* [[Other]]||* [[Structure]]* [[Symptom]]||* [[Treatment]]* [[Woman]]{{Also}} == References ==<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small"><references/></div> [[Category:Dictionary]][[Category:Jacques Lacan]][[Category:Terms]][[Category:Concepts]][[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Sexuality]][[Category:Practice]][[Category:Treatment]]{{OK}} __NOTOC__
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