BPS Core Textbooks Series

Developed in collaboration with the British Psychological Society

Chapter 5 – The Queen of the Hysterics: Hysteria and the Mimetic Body

Chapter Summary

This chapter explores the historical diagnosis of hysteria and its transformation from being understood as a neurological condition to being theorised as a psychological and symbolic disorder. Focusing on the work of Jean-Martin Charcot, Sigmund Freud, and Hippolyte Bernheim, it traces shifts in how hysteria was conceptualised, observed, and treated. Charcot’s emphasis on visual diagnosis and theatrical demonstrations gave legitimacy to hysteria but reinforced patriarchal structures of power. Freud’s focus on repressed trauma and unconscious symbolism introduced psychoanalytic concepts, while Bernheim’s work on suggestion opened new ways of thinking about the condition.

The chapter introduces the critical thinking tool of mimesis, inviting a critical interpretation of hysterical symptoms as performances shaped by social constraint. Women’s suffering is positioned not only as individual pathology but also as embodied protest within a restrictive gender order. By interrogating epistemological, ontological, and power dynamics, readers are encouraged to think critically about how psychological categories are constructed and how they function within broader cultural narratives. The historical lens invites reflection on contemporary issues, such as gendered diagnoses, medical authority, and the social shaping of distress, making hysteria a powerful case study in the psychology of society.

Chapter 5 – Quiz

  • Chapter 5 – Flashcards

    Press Enter or Space to flip the card

  • Chapter 5 – Key Readings

    Arnaud, S. (2015). On hysteria: The invention of a medical category between 1670 & 1820. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 

    Breuer, J., & Freud, S. (1895/2004). Studies on Hysteria (N. Luckhurst, Trans.).  

    de Marneffe, D. (1991). Looking and listening: the construction of clinical knowledge in Charcot and Freud. Signs, 17(1), 71–111. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174446

    Hajek, K. M. (2021). Félida, doubled personality, and the ‘normal state’ in late 19th-century French psychology. History of the Human Sciences, 34(2), 66-89. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695120980648 

    Hustvedt, A. (2011). Medical muses: Hysteria in nineteenth-century Paris. Bloomsbury. 

    Kanaan, R. A. A., & Wessely, S. C. (2010). The origins of factitious disorder. History of the Human Sciences, 23(2), 68-85. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952695109357128 

    Kimball, M. M. (2000). From “Anna O.” to Bertha Pappenheim: Transforming private pain into public action. History of Psychology, 3(1), 20–43. https://doi.org/10.1037/1093-4510.3.1.20 

    Kovalets, A. (2025), Hysteria and the birth of the new. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 41(2), 320-334. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjp.12953 

    Micale, M. S. (1995). Approaching hysteria: Disease and its interpretations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 

    Ropper, A.H., & and Burrell, B.D. (2020). How the brain lost its mind: Sex, hysteria, and the riddle of mental illness.  London: Atlantic Books. 

    Scull, A. (2009). Hysteria: The biography. Oxford University Press. 

    Showalter, E. (1985). The female malady: Women, madness and English culture, 1830–1980. Virago. 

  • Chapter 5 – Reflective Questions

    1. How did cultural assumptions about femininity shape the diagnosis and treatment of hysteria in the 19th century? 
    2. In what ways can hysteria be understood as a form of social protest?
    3. Compare and contrast Charcot’s and Freud’s approaches to hysteria. What do their methods reveal about changing ways of knowing in psychology?
    4. Why was the abandonment of Freud’s seduction theory controversial, and what does it suggest about the politics of psychological knowledge?
    5. How does the history of hysteria remain relevant to social psychology today?

  • Chapter 5 – Weblinks

    BBC In Our Time: Hysteria – Podcast Episode

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y27w

    This is a 45-minute podcast episode available for download on the BBC website, in which Melvyn Bragg discusses the concept of hysteria and what it was ‘used for’ in the context of (mis)diagnosis of conditions in the individuals who were assigned this condition.

    The Yellow Wallpaper – Full Text (Project Gutenberg)

    https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1952

    This site includes a free and complete upload of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by Charlotte Perkins, available on the site of the download. The book is often discussed in relation to feminist literature and contains a highly influential exploration of female psychological distress, or ‘hysteria’.

    Freud Museum Education and Outreach – Educational Resource

    https://www.freud.org.uk/education

    This site includes many resources and documents covering Freud’s studies throughout his career, including the Anna O. case, alongside his extensive work on psychoanalysis and hysteria as it existed at the time.

    Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital – Overview and Further Reading

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitié-Salpêtrière_Hospital

    This page gives a good and clear overview of what happened at the hospital, both in reference to the relative atrocities that happened to the patients and the cultural events that happened in France during its existence. The page also provides extensive further reading resources.

    Bertha Pappenheim (Jewish Women’s Archive) – Online Encyclopaedia

    https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/pappenheim-bertha

    This page gives an overview of the life of Bertha Pappenheim, including discussing her experience being the focus of the ‘Anna O.’ case involving Josef Breuer and Freud’s later discussions of the case, and how after this experience she went on to advocate for women’s health in a variety of ways.

    What is hysteria, and why were so many women diagnosed with it? – TED-Ed talk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anJKMZCVjxs

    This 6-minute video gives an easy-to-understand overview of what hysteria was, how women were diagnosed with it and what the implications of this gender-based approach to health were at the time, and could still be in modern time.

    Hysteria – The Wellcome Collection

    https://wellcomecollection.org/search?query=hysteria

    This site contains a large variety of resources looking at hysteria, ranging from medical imagery to personal anecdotes of individuals diagnosed with the condition. The search function on the site makes it easy to find these resources, and there are plenty of resources for further reading accessible through the entries on the page.