Hysteria — The Stability and Usefulness of Clinical Criteria

Abstract

A COMPLETE concept of the clinical characteristics of hysteria is of practical importance to the physician since he must often evaluate the significance of symptoms that have not been explained by physical examination and laboratory studies. The danger of haphazard and unwarranted dismissal of symptoms as manifestations of hysteria is obvious. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little quantitative information in the literature about the clinical manifestations and prognosis of hysteria. Studies of the natural history of this disease have been limited primarily to descriptions of the isolated occurrence and prognosis of specific hysterical symptoms, such as transient blindness, paralysis and aphonia, . . .