Since the time of Charcot, hysteria has undergone a revolution without being brought back to its starting-point: it can, in fact, return only in the form that Freud imposed upon it by effecting a revolution at the centre of language. Logically, that revolution brought about a change in the therapeutic method by freeing itself of the 'fascination' and 'bondage' which even Freud had to surmount before placing the ego-ideal at the service of self observation. But culture, theory and, at times, even psychoanalysts quality for the role lost to the 'hysteric' and which the analytic situation maintains.