Hysteria and Related Mental Disorders

Hysteria and Related Mental Disorders: An Approach to Psychological Medicine deals with the problems of diagnosis and their bearing on management and treatment of hysteria and related hysteriform conditions. This book is composed of 16 chapters, and starts with a description of the etiology and psychopathology of hysteria. These topics are followed by intensive discussions on the clinical manifestations and diagnosis of hysteria and related mental disorders, including neurosis, psychosis, schizophrenia, and multiple personality. Other chapters consider the nature of dissociative phenomena from a structural and dynamic point of view, as well as its significance in understanding the etiology of ego disorders. This book also looks into some aspects of language development, the conversion process, and the features of hysteria as a communicative disorder. The last chapters present several medical cases illustrating the differences between conversion hysteria and psychophysiologic autonomic disorder. These chapters also deal with the types of psychotherapy for hysteria. This book is of great value to psychologists, neurologists, clinicians, and psychotherapists.

I.—Introductory

1. Scope and Purpose of the Work

2. Historical Survey of Opinions held concerning the Nature of Hysteria

II.—Aetiology and Psychopathology of Hysteria

1. Mental Conflict and Symptom Formation

2. The Importance of the Vita Sexualis

3. The Oedipus Complex and the Role of the Actual Conflict

4. The Disturbance of Repression

5. The Point of Fixation

6. The Castration Complex

7. The Significance of the Hysterical Convulsion

III.—Clinical Manifestations of Hysteria in Indian and in British Soldiers

IV.—Diagnosis I: the Differentiation of Conversion Hysteria from Organic Disease

1. Approach to Diagnosis

2. Diagnostic Psychiatric Interview

3. Differentiation from Organic Disease

4. Iatrogenic Suggestion and the Stigmata

V.—Neurosis and Psychosis

VI.—Schizophrenia

Fundamental Symptoms: Thought Disorder, Affect Disorder and Ambivalence, and Autism

VII.—Diagnosis II: the Differentiation of Hysteria from Schizophrenia

VIII.—Hysteria and Hypnoid States

1. The Existence of Hypnoid States

2. Criteria for the Recognition of Hypnoid States

3. The Border-Line Personality and the Hypnoid State

4. Some Preliminary Metapsychological Considerations

5. Further Metapsychological Considerations

IX.—Multiple Personality

X.—The Accident-Prone Individual

XI.—The Concept of Dissociation

1. Automatic Writing and Co-Consciousness: Somnambulism and Sequential Alterations of Consciousness

2. Fugue and Enactment of Wish Phantasies; Somnambulism and Compulsion to Repeat

3. The Evolution of Janet's Concept

4. Dissociation, Identification, and the Body Image

XII.—Dissociation and Communication

1. Molar and Molecular Dissociation

2. Glossolalia

3. Reversion to Body Language

4. Hysteria as a Communicative Disorder

XIII.—The Syndrome of Gilles de la Tourette

XIV.—Symbols, Affects, and Language

1. Symbolization and Communication

2. Some Aspects of Language Development and the Conversion Process

3. Affect Symbolism

A. The Stream of Consciousness and the Expression of Feelings

B. Affects and Subjective Awareness

C. Affects and Calculation of the Probability of 'Good' and 'Bad'

D. Anxiety

E. Depression and Affect Equivalents

XV.—Diagnosis III: The Differentiation of Conversion Hysteria from Psychophysiologic Autonomic Disorder

1. Psychological Stress

2. Psychophysiologic Disorder

3. The Differentiating Features

4. Psychosomatic Disorder: Concluding Remarks

XVI.—Psychotherapy

1. Principal Types of Psychotherapy and Their Indications

2. Problems in Evaluation of Psychotherapy

3. The Psychotherapy of Hysteria

A. Historical Aspects

B. Recent Concepts of Hysteria

C. Treatment

Bibliography

Subject Index

Index of Proper Names