In this paper the author examines the psychoanalytic theory of hysteria in an ingenious fashion. In order to utilize his methodology new distinctions in concepts are made: orbital introjections are internal objects which are not absorbed as part of oneself; however, nuclear introjections are internal objects which are so absorbed. In hysteria the Oedipal situation seems to be a sadistic relationship between the son and the orbital introject of his mother. The author postulates that hysteria is a disturbance of nuclear introjections involving male and female genitals. He suggests three hypotheses to explain this mechanism: first, a digestivelike process that destroys an orbital introject of the mother's breast, thus making it a nuclear introject; second, the breast is equated with the vagina; and third, the penis becomes identified with a digestive organ. These hypotheses the author feels may explain the phallic fixation point, conversion symptoms, the action of the trauma in hysterical symbolization, the mechanism of repression, and even the mechanism of phobias and their intermittent occurrence.