Hysteria: causes, symptoms and treatment

Hysteria refers to complex neuroses and manifests itself in the form of specific emotional-affective states, as well as in the form of somatovegetative clinical manifestations. The disease is characterized by the reversibility of neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as the absence of obvious pathological and morphological changes in the central nervous system.

At one time, hysteria was considered exclusively a female disease. However, research and analysis of statistics made it possible to establish that men are also subject to hysteria. Moreover, male patients with this type of neurosis are no less than women.

Hysteria is a medical diagnosis, not a simulation of a certain condition. The person himself does not realize that he is sick, so the approach to such patients should be as careful as possible. The more skeptical the surrounding people are about the well-being of a person, the stronger the manifestations of pathology will be.

What is hysteria?

Hysteria (or hysterical neurosis) is a mental disorder that manifests itself in various disorders: functional, autonomic, motor, affective and sensitive.

A person suffering from hysteria seeks to attract attention, which is one of the symptoms of the disease. Although the patient often has disturbances in the functioning of the body as a whole and the nervous system in particular. Thus, pathological manifestations of the brain can be expressed in the development of blindness, paralysis, etc.

Hysteria is a polyetiological disease. The conditions in which the personality is formed can provoke its development.

Treatment must be comprehensive. Strengthening of immunity and nervous system is required. It is equally important to direct efforts to eliminate the manifestations of the disease.

In modern medical practice, the term hysteria is not used. There is no such concept in the International Classification of Diseases, nor in DSM-VI.

This pathology is designated by the following names:

• Anxious hysteria.

• Conversion or dissociative disorders.

• Hysterical personality disorder.

• somatoform disorders.

Medicine considers hysteria as a personality disorder, which is characterized by superficial judgments, increased self-hypnosis, the desire to attract attention, a tendency to fantasies, mental lability, theatrical behavior.

Causes of hysterical neurosis

External and internal factors are capable of provoking the development of hysteria. Also important are the features of the emotional sphere of a particular person, the characteristics of his personality and suggestibility, which affects the course of thinking of patients and his emotional state.

Internal personality conflict can cause hysteria. Often the impetus for the development of the disease is stress, being in which a person is forced to restrain his own emotions. He suppresses them, does not show negative experiences.

Society, by itself, develops hysteria within each person. People who are emotionally weak are not able to suppress negative emotions for a long time. One day they will come out, which will be expressed in inappropriate behavior.

Risk factors that can lead to the development of hysteria:

• Somatic diseases.

• Physical and psychological trauma.

• Taking sleeping pills and tranquilizers without medical supervision.

• Alcoholism and drug addiction.

Hysterical neurosis is a frequent companion of people who grew up in dysfunctional families. Also, the disease can develop in people who are in unusual circumstances for them. We must not forget about such individual personality characteristics as the character and psychotype of a person.

Psychologists have identified the reasons that can lead to the development of hysteria:

• Mental immaturity. The modern individual is getting younger not only in body (the desire to remain young as long as possible), but also in soul (infantility persists longer than in past years or even centuries). Many children grow up suggestible, impressionable. They have reduced independence, while many of them are selfish. Such mental disorders are a consequence of the peculiarities of upbringing, as well as those goals that are set for a person. From childhood, they are set up to be successful, which is not always possible in real life.

• Emotional turmoil. Conflict situations, difficulties, and domestic problems negatively affect the health of the psyche. People face them every day. People with a strong psyche calmly overcome all stresses, and an emotionally weak person breaks down. As a result, he develops hysteria.

Symptoms of hysteria

The symptoms of hysteria are most intense when a person is surrounded by other people. His behavior becomes demonstrative. Hysteria develops unexpectedly and ends just as suddenly.

Its main symptoms are:

1. Movement disorders:

   • The patient’s coordination will be impaired.

   • The hands are shaky.

   • The voice may be lost.

   • Muscle tics and spasms are often observed.

2. somatic symptoms. There are certain features of hysterical neurosis that distinguish it from somatic diseases. So, aphonia is characterized by the absence of a voice, but a person coughs with sound. This is due to the fact that with hysterical paralysis, muscle tissue does not atrophy. Trying to attract attention to themselves, patients often feign fainting, respiratory disorders, they can wring their hands, rush about. However, when it is possible to distract them, the severity of these symptoms becomes much less intense.

3. Sensory disturbances. Sensory disturbances are expressed by amplification, decrease, or complete absence of sensitivity. The patient himself can indicate which part of his body is numb. Also, patients with hysteria often have pain in various places. Many patients indicate that during a tantrum they go blind or deaf. From the side of the eyes, such disorders as a decrease in visual fields, distortion of color perception can be observed. At the same time, a person is normally oriented in space. Deafness is often accompanied by a violation of the sensitivity of the skin of the auricles.

4. vegetative symptoms. The symptoms that manifest themselves in hysteria from the autonomic system are diverse.

   These include:

   • Nausea and vomiting.

   • Deterioration of breathing.

   • Pain in the heart and other organs.

   • False spasm of the esophagus due to which a person refuses to eat.

   • Headache.

   • Dizziness.

   • Itching.

Theatrical seizures are another symptom of hysteria. They are aimed at attracting attention to themselves and at achieving the requirements put forward. The patient can bend and fall to the floor, while the falls are quite “correct” and as safe as possible. It is not uncommon for people to start banging their heads against hard objects, waving their arms and legs, crying or laughing out loud. By all appearances, a person indicates that he is suffering incredibly. If you check the reaction of the pupils, then it will be safe, the patient himself is conscious. The face may be red or pale.

You can stop the seizure with a strong slap in the face. Alternatively, a person may be doused with cold water. All of these signs make it possible to distinguish hysteria from an epileptic seizure.

Clinical forms of hysteria

Depending on which type of violation prevails, the forms of hysteria can be as follows:

• Hysterical paralysis. The muscles of a person become weak, first of all, the arms and legs suffer. As a result, he cannot move them normally.

• Hysterical sensory disturbances. This includes pain and numbness of the skin in various parts of the body.

• Hysterical astasia-abasia, that is, gait disturbance. The patient cannot walk, and when trying to get to his feet, he sways strongly in different directions.

• Hysterical blindness. The patient loses the ability to see with one or both eyes.

• Hysterical deafness. Hearing is absent in both ears, but sometimes it is reduced in only one ear.

• Hysterical convulsions. This form of hysteria is characterized by the appearance of uncontrolled movements of the limbs. During this time, the person may lose consciousness.

• Hysterical mutism. The patient cannot speak, but at the same time points to the lips, indicating that speech is impossible.

• Hysterical amnesia. A person may lose his memory for a short time.

• hysterical coma. The patient loses consciousness. He does not react to everything that is happening around, does not talk, does not open his eyes, does not respond to the name, does not feel pain. The coma can last from a few minutes to several days.

Such a unique medical phenomenon as mass hysteria deserves special attention. It proceeds like a mental epidemic. Scientists explain this phenomenon by the increased suggestibility of many people. Mass psychosis rarely occurs. At the same time, a violation of the perception of the world develops in several people at once. Mass hysteria is used as evidence that people are subject to the herd instinct.

Which doctor should I contact with hysteria?

Hysteria is diagnosed and treated by specialists such as neurologists and psychiatrists.

Video: a detailed description of hysterical neurosis. The causes and methods of treatment are considered. Hysteria as a way to attract attention in order to get what you want: