Academic literature on the topic 'Hysterical personality'

SynopsisHysterical symptoms are defined as complaints that are not fully explained by organic or functional neurological disease. Hysterical symptoms are common in neurological practice, accounting for about 1% of neurological diagnoses. Of those with neurological hysterical symptoms, about 80% will not have the hysterical personality, and about 80% will not have Briquet's hysteria. Some 60% will have a physical disease and perhaps as many as 50% will have recognizable psychiatric illness, particularly depression. Others may have unrecognized physical or psychiatric illness. Many hysterical symptoms may be understood in terms of abnormal illness behaviour.

A study of the case notes of 52 patients with a diagnosis of hysterical personality disorder showed that 27 had no recorded features of that condition, but were frequently described as aggressive, uncooperative, or attention-seeking. Although 60% were recorded as depressed, only 17% received antidepressant treatment. In an experimental study, the core traits of the disorder were found to have a low inter-rater reliability. Two patients, who had received hospital diagnoses of hysterical personality disorder, were shown to display behaviour that caused psychiatrists to make a diagnosis on wholly inadequate information.

The term ‘conversion’ implies a correlation between conversion symptoms, hysteria, and hysterical personality. A clinical case of conversion related to chronic post-traumatic disorder, with paranoid features, was successfully treated by anti-psychotic drugs; it illustrates the non-specific nature of conversion symptoms. Mechanic's concept of ‘illness behaviour’ is a frame-work that meets the need for a broader understanding of conversion symptoms.

The changes in the concept of psychopathies and psychopathic reactions of the prominent German psychiatrist O. Bumke who in the first edition of his textbook (1919) was oriented on E. Kraepelin’s systematics of psychopathic personalities but included hysteric personality in psychopathies and tried to delineate the special type of “affectepileptoids” are analyzed. In the second edition of the Textbook (1924) O. Bumke subjected E. Kretschmer’s typology of schizoids and “prototypical” constitutional approach to psychopathies systematics to convincing criticism. In the third edition of the Textbook (1929) O. Bumke accepted partly “constitutional” approach and suggested his own typology of schizoid types among which he marked out fanatics, dissatisfied, emotionally cold and “enemies of the society”, and some originally described “tymopathic” types: “gentle egoists”, “gentle autists” and anxious. Other psychopathic types: paranoid, explosive, hysteric, dypso- and poriomans from O. Bumke’s point of view appeared on heterogenous constitutional ground. From the third edition of the Textbook O. Bumke separately described hysterical “attitude” underlining the meaning of environmental factors in the formation of hysterical personality, and two types of paranoic personality development: litigious and sensitive in O. Bumke’s comprehension were corresponding to paranoic “attitude”. The peculiarity of O. Bumke’s concept of psychopathies and psychopathic reactions was its accent on the prevalence of mixed and transitive forms in the clinical reality and corresponding impossibility for differentiation.

In the article, problematic questions of diagnostics and therapy of non-psychotic mental disorders (NPMD) in female patients of climacteric age with hysterical symptom complex are considered. Efficacy of psychotherapy (PT) in NPMD, hypnopsychotherapy in hysterical states: hysterical neurosis, neurasthenia and obsessive-compulsive neurosis is indicated. In treatment of NPMD, PT by creative selfexpression is successfully used. It is highlighted that PT forms conscious-critical attitude of patients toward themselves. Combination of PT with physiotherapy in hysterical conversional symptoms has been described. In hysterical manifestations neuroleptics are recommended, in neurotic depressions – antidepressants of mild action. In severe hysterical state, psychopharmacotherapy (PPhT) with tranquilizers and neuroleptics is applied on long-term basis. Stable recovery in dissociative and hysterical disorders has been shown. In vegetovascular disorders in structure of climacteric syndrome (CS) vinpocetine, in psychoemotional manifestations phenibut was administered. In therapy of hysterical neurosis, “minor neuroleptics”, hypnosuggestive therapy, social rehabilitation were applied. Effective group PT of psychogenically conditioned disorders in asthenicand anxiety-depressive symptoms is effective. Complex therapy of NPMD in hysterical and asthenic neurosis, obsessive-compulsive neurosis has been suggested. Organization of specialized preventive examinations for early revealing of persons with personality pathology is based. Efficacy of a number of medications in periand post-menopause – SSRIs and gabapentin, during menopause paroxetine, in depressions of non-psychotic level – pyrazidol, coaxil, in neurotic hypochondriasis sulpiride and quetiapine, diazepam, in climacteric vegetative and mental disorders hormone replacement therapy (HRT), hormonal therapy, PPhT and PT, in neurovegetative symptoms of CS – antidepressants, in psychovegetative syndromes – SSRIs, in dysthymic disorders – tianeptine (coaxil), in involutional hysteria – psychotropic medications and medications of neurometabolic action, in psychoemotional disorders of mild and moderate degree – deprim, in depressive disorders of mild and mean severity – valdoxan has been shown. In climacteric depression, hormonal therapy stops climacteric symptoms.

The purpose of this study was to identify prognostically unfavorable immune and endocrine development criteria hysterical disorders. The study involved patients with hysterical personality development, hysterical neurosis and healthy donors. Immunological reactions were performed by standard methods, hormonal - immune enzyme analysis. Changes in cellular and humoral immunity in the form of a reduction in the absolute number of T- and B-lymphocytes, decrease the metabolic activity of neutrophils, the ratio of circulating immune complexes of different molecular weight, and lower cortisol levels indicate the involvement of the immune endocrine reactions in the pathogenetic mechanisms of the development of the protracted forms of conversion disorders, and confirm the need for surveys of the immune and hormonal status of patients suffering from hysterical personality development. Identified by the authors the changes in neuro-immune-endocrine system can be regarded as a prognostically unfavorable in the development of hysterical disorders, and involve the use of immunomodulators in the treatment of these diseases.

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A Psicologia francesa do final do século XIX, recentemente separada da Filosofia, utilizava como um de seus principais métodos o estudo dos estados alterados de consciência e das doenças mentais no intuito de compreender melhor o funcionamento normal da mente humana. Dentre os pioneiros desta Psicologia, destacou-se Pierre Janet. Seu estudo sobre as alterações mentais, principalmente o hipnotismo e a histeria, deram origem às suas concepções sobre força e fraqueza psicológica, dissociação e atividade subconsciente, ideias estas que abriram margem para um novo entendimento da atividade mental fora da consciência, contribuíram para o desenvolvimento da psiquiatria dinâmica e, principalmente, apresentaram à sua época um caráter conciliador entre as novas tendências da psicologia e a antiga psicologia. Contudo, embora tenha sido um autor relevante, seus trabalhos são pouco conhecidos na atualidade e, em língua portuguesa, a bibliografia sobre ele é escassa. Nosso objetivo foi, portanto: (i) analisar o surgimento do conceito de dissociação na obra inicial de Pierre Janet, assim como as suas principais acepções; (ii) apresentar como Janet chegou à formulação deste conceito e como esse se desenvolveu ao longo de sua obra; (iii) explicar o mecanismo da dissociação segundo o autor; (iv) esclarecer o que ocorre com os elementos dissociados da consciência; (v) apresentar a relação da dissociação com outros conceitos fundamentais da obra de Janet, tais como vontade, fraqueza de síntese e automatismo e; (vi) expor as explicações de Janet para a histeria, hipnotismo e duplas personalidades com base na sua teoria da dissociação. Para tanto, realizamos uma leitura analítica da segunda fase de suas obras, que vai desde 1885 a 1894 (contendo 3 livros e 17 artigos), na qual este autor se dedicou a estudar profundamente este tema, buscando estabelecer a definição dos principais conceitos desta fase de suas obras, com ênfase na dissociação, e também as relações existentes entre eles. Como resultados obtivemos que conceito dissociação apareceu pela primeira vez nas obras de Janet em 1887 no artigo L'anesthésie systématisée et la dissociation des phénomènes psychologiques. Nele Janet coloca que a dissociação ocorre quando um item, seja uma memória, uma sensação ou um movimento, não se liga à ideia de eu do sujeito, sendo, portanto, removido da consciência normal. Porém, a partir de 1889, da obra L’automatisme psychologique, não vemos mais aparecer o termo dissociação, mas sim um novo termo, o termo desagregação (désagrégation), o qual acreditamos ser, contudo, seu sinônimo. O mecanismo da dissociação é apresentado por Janet, principalmente, quando ele explica a formação dos sintomas histéricos. Para ele estes sintomas histéricos, ou seja, as anestesias, as abulias, as amnésias e os problemas do movimento são todos causados por uma fraqueza de síntese psicológica que leva, por sua vez à desagregação psicológica. Nestes quadros, devido à fraqueza de síntese, certos grupos de sensações, memórias, emoções ou informações sobre o ambiente deixam de ser sintetizados à ideia de eu (fator fundamental, segundo Janet, para que um fenômeno possa fazer parte da consciência) e, portanto, permanecem dissociados da consciência normal, gerando, respectivamente: as anestesias, as amnésias, as modificações do caráter e as abulias. Estes elementos não sintetizados continuam, contudo, a existir podendo “ficar isolados e desaparecer ou podem se associar com outros fatos igualmente separados de toda a consciência e formar uma segunda personalidade” (Janet, 1887 p.402). A ação destes cada um deles sobre a consciência da histérica, por sua vez, é a raiz do que Janet chamou de acidentes histéricos dentre os quais estão incluídos as contraturas, a catalepsia parcial, o sonambulismo, os ataques, alguns delírios e os atos subconscientes. É possível concluir que a dissociação é de fundamental importância para a compreensão da histeria sob o ponto de vista de Janet e que é também um conceito chave da fase inicial de suas obras.
The French psychologists of the XIX century used, as one of its main methods, the exploration of the altered states of consciousness and mental illness to achieve a better understanding of the normal human mind. Among this French psychologists, Pierre Janet is a central figure. His studies on hysteria and hypnotism gave birth to his conceptions about psychological weakness, dissociation and unconscious activity. His theories held to a new understanding of mental activity occurring outside of conscious awareness, contributed to the development of the dynamic psychiatry and, specially, seemed to conciliate the two divided trends of the XIX century French psychology (the medical and the philosophical one). Even though Pierre Janet be an important French psychologist, in Brazil, there is a lack of studies about him. Because of it, our aim was to: (i) find out when Janet started to use the concept “dissociation”, its definition, and its changes; (ii) show how did Janet conclude about the existence of dissociation of consciousness, (iii) point out the relationship between the dissociation and the mental weakness, (iv) explain the mechanism of dissociation according to Janet, (v) describe what happens to the elements dissociated to normal consciousness and (vi) show the role of dissociation on hysteria, hypnotism and double personality according him. To achieve our goal we analyzed Pierre Janet’s works between 1885 and 1894 (3 books and 17 articles). As a result we noticed that the concept dissociation appeared for the first time in the article of 1887 L'anesthésie systématisée et la dissociation des phénomènes psychologiques. In this article, Janet explains that dissociation happens when an element, a memory or a sensation, is not synthesized to self, being, consequently, removed to the normal consciousness. However, from 1889 and beyond Janet substituted the term dissociation for another one, desegregation, keeping for both the same meaning. The mechanism of dissociation is described by Janet while he is explaining the hysterical symptoms. According to him, its symptoms (anesthesia, amnesia and movement disturbances) are due to a problem to synthesize sensations, memories and information about the environment (respectively) to self. This elements which were not synthesized can continue existing outside the normal consciousness, isolated or grouped, in a more or less complex system, being able to originate a secondary personality. These elements can affect the hysterical psychism giving birth to the hysterical accidents as contractures, the hysterical crises, the delirium, the catalepsies, the somnambulism and the unconscious acts. To sum up, it is possible to conclude that dissociation in a fundamental concept of the initial works of Pierre Janet and it is an essential concept to understand his views of hypnotism, hysteria and double personality.

Theater and neuroscience: What could these two have in common? What could their historical developments tell us about modernity and the modern subject? The Nervous Stage argues that, to a significant degree, modern theater emerged out of a dialogue with the neurological sciences. Beyond this, the book demonstrates that an understanding of this dialogue sheds new light on the emergence of modern notions of embodiment and subjectivity. This wide-ranging study encompasses artists as diverse as Joanna Baillie, Percy Shelley, Georg Büchner, Charles Dickens, Richard Wagner, Émile Zola, August Strindberg, and Antonin Artaud—and recreates their conversations with a wide range of nineteenth-century neurologists. It is during the nineteenth century that the conception of the subject as essentially nervous went through what was its most intense period of formation and development, and thus it is during the same century that we discover the formation of a subject largely comprehensible, interpretable, and transformable through neurophysiological networks. This subject was magnetic; felt vibrations; was thrilled, electrified, and shocked; became hysterical; succumbed to neurasthenia and was re-energized. It was a site for the influx and efflux of nervous sensations, a site that was also understood as a subjectivity, a personality, and a person. Working between disciplines of theater studies and medical history, the book ultimately describes the formation of a new idea of personhood. We are already neural subjects, the book suggests, and have been for a long time.

The peasant Margaretha D., noted the asylum log, “often suffers from hysterical attacks, with which she wants to be treated like a distinguished lady . . . She raises herself above her social position and demands great attention and care.” This patient, in other words, though considered mad by the Eberbach asylum, was not a true hysteric: she rather “played” the hysterical lady. Two important issues suggest themselves from this description of feigned illness. The first has to do with the connection between class, gender, and the representation of illness. Madness, it seems, had its class and gender codes. Certain symptoms of hysteria—which in the eighteenth century had become a fashionable illness of privileged women, signifying the pathologies accompanying luxury, leisure, and “civilization”—appeared suspicious in a poor, peasant woman. Secondly, the “playing” of illness suggests (inadvertently) a subtext, normally buried and only implicit in the asylum notes: of illness as strategic behavior on the part of the patient within the social dynamics of the asylum. Margaretha’s symptoms were at least in part the result of a self-presentation to her keepers, a communicative act, with its own aims—attention, better care, and so forth. Both of these issues—the link between class, gender, and illness, on the one hand, and the strategic nature of symptoms, on the other—are at the core of the following analysis of nymphomania. Nineteenth-century physicians interpreted the behavior of nymphomaniacal women as a function of an internal state of being—as pathologically excited genitals—and in this way, they contributed to the construction of a modern conception of sexuality as an innate essence of personality. While no longer a clinical entity in post-Freudian psychiatry, the image of the out-of-control, sex-obsessed nymphomaniac remains very much alive in popular culture and continues to be grounded in a conception of sexuality as inner essence and “drive.” This analysis, by contrast, looks at nymphomania as acts and attitudes, which took place within very specific social contexts: the power dynamics of the asylum and the doctor-patient relationship.

Psychoanalysis is: 1 A personality theory, and, more generally, a theory of psychological functioning that focuses particularly on unconscious mental processes; 2 A method for the investigation of psychological functions based on the exploration of free associations within a special therapeutic setting; 3 A method for treatment of a broad spectrum of psychopathological conditions, including the symptomatic neuroses (anxiety states, characterological depression, obsessive–compulsive disorder, conversion hysteria, and dissociative hysterical pathology), sexual inhibitions and perversions (‘paraphilias’), and the personality disorders. Psychoanalysis has also been applied, mostly in modified versions, i.e. in psychoanalytic psychotherapies, to the treatment of severe personality disorders, psychosomatic conditions, and certain psychotic conditions, particularly a subgroup of patients with chronic schizophrenic illness. All three aspects of psychoanalysis were originally developed by Freud whose theories of the dynamic unconscious, personality development, personality structure, psychopathology, methodology of psychoanalytic investigation, and method of treatment still largely influence the field, both in the sense that many of his central ideas continue as the basis of contemporary psychoanalytic thinking, and in that corresponding divergencies, controversies, and radical innovations still can be better understood in the light of the overall frame of his contributions. Freud's concepts of dream analysis, mechanisms of defence, and transference have become central aspects of many contemporary psychotherapeutic procedures. Freud's ideas about personality development and psychopathology, the method of psychoanalytic investigation, and the analytic approach to treatment gradually changed in the course of his dramatically creative lifespan. Moreover, the theory of the structure of the mind that he assumed must underlie the events that he observed clinically changed in major respects, so that an overall summary of his views can hardly be undertaken without tracing the history of his thinking. The present overview will lead up to summaries of his final conclusions as to the structure of the mind and how this is reflected in personality development and psychopathology. Psychoanalysis will then be described as a method of treatment, as seen from the point of view of resolution of conflict between impulse and defence, and from that of object-relations theory. We shall explore significant changes that have occurred in all these domains, and conclude with an overview of contemporary psychoanalysis, with particular emphasis upon the presently converging tendencies of contemporary psychoanalytic approaches, and new developments that remain controversial.

(Released 3 March 2015) [Trans.: Abdulbasit Kassim] Available at: http://jihadology.net/2015/03/03/al-urwah-al-wuthqa-foundation-presents-a-new-release-from-jamaat-ahl-al-Sunna-li-l-dawah-wa-l-jihad-boko-%E1%B8%A5aram-grouping-of-sermons-of-the-imam-abu-yusuf-mu/ This trio of written sermons in Arabic was released by Boko Haram six years after the murder of Yusuf. They are a thematic group, concerning the Muslim personality, a call to jihād, and covering colonialism. Most likely they were delivered separately as the tone of the first sermon differs markedly from the hysterical tone of the last two. It is of course possible that the first sermon was delivered together with the others, but as there are no internal indications as to its date, it has been placed separately. The final two sermons are placed chronologically prior to the Declaration of War (text 19). Most probably the release of these sermons on 3 March 2015, as the Nigerian army was defeating Boko Haram and just four days before the amalgamation of Boko Haram with the Islamic State, was designed as a rebuke to Shekau from disaffected elements of the group who wanted to stress the legacy and leadership of Muhammad Yusuf...