The study of hysteria has paved the way for the growth of psychoanalytic theory ever since Freud and Breuer (1895) made an effort to sort out its clinical presentation. Dissociative processes fuel the engine that drives hysteria along peculiarly predictable paths. The vertical split represents a description of a dissociative organization of mind. A multiple self-state model of mind sits at the core of self psychology. After a review of relevant literature, a clinical example illustrates both the simplicity and complexity of such a model and its parsimonious utility in understanding hysteria in a self psychological context.