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The Myth of Female Hysteria and Health Disparities among Women

For thousands of years, women’s health complaints were often diagnosed as “female hysteria” – a catch-all term that basically implied “it’s all in her head.” The condition was believed to be caused by a wandering uterus and/or sexual frustration. Doctors treated the condition using various regimens. Sometimes they would prescribe treatments with herbs and cold water. They also advised patients to go horseback riding, use a vibrator, or have regular sexual encounters with their husbands. Should those cures fail, the insane asylum was always an option.

Although multiple sclerosis (MS) is three to four times more common among women, until the 1920s, men were diagnosed with MS more often…

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Featured

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The symptoms so many Americans experienced were probably not caused by a secret weapon. That doesn’t mean they’re not real.

 No, You Are Not an Hysterical Female, and This Is Not Just Anxiety

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 What Is Hysteria? (An Overview and Introduction)

Hysteria seems like a term that applies to people who are being a little overly emotional, so it may surprise you to learn that it was once a common medical diagnosis. In layman's terms, hysteria is often used to describe behavior that seems excessive and out of control. When someone responds in a way that seems disproportionately emotional for the situation, they are often described as hysterical. During the Victorian era, the term was often used to refer to a host of symptoms that were generally observed only in women.

Articles of Interest

Female Hysteria: 7 Crazy Things People Used To Believe About The Ladies’ Disease

Deeply disheartening though it may be, the practice of labeling women “crazy” is alive and well today, and its roots are deep. As in, it’s-been-happening-for-thousands-of-years-and-has-been-pretty-well-tolerated-by-most-of-society deep. Deeply disheartening though it may be, the practice of labeling women “crazy” is alive and well today, and its roots are deep. As in, it’s-been-happening-for-thousands-of-years-and-has-been-pretty-well-tolerated-by-most-of-society deep.

Is Hysteria Real? Brain Images Say Yes

Both its persistence and its pervasiveness suggest that hysteria may be derived from an instinctual response to threat. Total shutdown, in the form of paralysis, for example, is not an entirely untoward or unheard of response to an untenable situation. (Think of deer in the headlights.) But the broadest consensus within the scientific community does not pertain to what is known about hysteria, but instead to how much remains unknown. “We’re only at the beginning,” Dr. Halligan said.

Take Some Pills for Your Hysteria, Lady: America's Long History of Drugging Women Up

Women are twice as likely as men to be prescribed prescription drugs for depression or anxiety.

The History of Doctors Diagnosing Women With Hysteria

But while we need more female doctors now, there was an era when a lack of women in medicine meant a totally sexist—not to mention imaginary—"condition" was running rampant.

Anti-transgender bathroom hysteria, explained

While the bathroom issue has popped up in small fights over the years, the current debate really goes back to Houston, Texas, the first place where it was proven to be a serious issue for LGBTQ rights. And it's not solely about bathrooms; although the debate has largely gone to the toilet, it is actually about a much bigger struggle to expand rights for LGBTQ people.

Cutting Through Hysteria

Hyped-up, irrational fear has a great impact on populations and on the governments that represent them. It causes needless, wasteful spending and poor policy decisions.

From Hysteria to Hormones

In From Hysteria to Hormones, Amy Koerber examines the rhetorical activity that preceded the early twentieth-century emergence of the word hormone and the impact of this word on expert understandings of women’s health.

Why Outbreaks Breed Hysteria

What a 2009 psychology study on the swine flu pandemic can teach us about today's Ebola-induced panic.