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This is one of the best psychoanalytical books that I have read recently. It is clear, well written, easily understandable, and comprehensive in scope. It is based on a series of psychiatric grand rounds at the Langley Porter Institute.
Ilza Veith, the medical historian, contributed a paper on “Four Thousand Years of Hysteria.” I found the section on Silas Weir Mitchell especially interesting, since Mitchell anticipated Freud in his use of the patient's self-analysis in his treatments. Kay H. Blacker and Joe P. Tubin continue the history of the theory of hysteria into the twentieth century. They point out that the new concepts of character and ego psychology show new perspectives on hysteria and hysterical personalities. Marmor illustrates the importance of oral-receptive wishes. Shapiro described the cognitive style of the hysterical personality. Zetzel and Lazare elucidated the various subtypes.
Lydia Temoshok and C. Clifford Atkinsson contributed a paper entitled “Epidemiology of Hysterical Phenomena: Evidence for a Psychosocial Theory.” On the basis of a review of the papers on the characteristics of the hysterical personality, conversion, epidemiology, and cross cultural studies, they come to the conclusion that hysterical phenomena are the results of two theories: (1) elaboration of social change is a product of social change, and (2) hysterical phenomena are forms of adaptation to psychosocial stress. They hypothesize that certain social roles are more rigid or impose greater limitations on adaptiveness to change than other social roles. They believe that hysterical conversion reactions are prevalent among lower socio-economic classes in the United States and people who have recently migrated from rural to more urban settings in Africa and South Asia. Sex roles differentially absorb the impact of cultural change. Hysterical symptoms occur more frequently in women. Men with the same psycho- and socio-dynamics manifest themselves as sociopaths. The authors believ