What is hysteria, and why were so many women diagnosed with it - Mark S. Micale
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Date: 2024-09-27
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Comments and reviews: 20
WTFreud
This is a great explanation of hysteria, but don't become complacent. Hysteria is actually alive and well in DSM V as Functional Neurological System Disorder. Countless women--many with multi-system autoimmune diseases--are still having symptoms of physical ailments dismissed under this umbrella term or its predecessor, Conversion Disorder, if their doctor cannot diagnose them. Imagine that: a doctor who doesn't know the answer is able to blame the patient's mind rather than their own ignorance. As many as 15% of patients seeking care in neurology clinics are given mental illness diagnoses or referred for psychiatric care---and no evaluation by a mental health professional is required. Depending on the illness, up to 50% of patients with Multiple Sclerosis, Lyme Disease and Lupus will also be diagnosed with a psychiatric ailment with roots in hysteria. People's lives are endangered by this practice. And once a mental illness diagnosis is made, it's difficult to have physical symptoms taken seriously ever again, discouraging patients from seeking further care. Care they desperately need.
According to a report by Johns Hopkins, doctors are literally disabling and killing patients via misdiagnosis to the tune of 795k per year, yet less than 1k will have their license revoked. That leaves a lot of incompetent physicians in practice. It's mindboggling how freely medical doctors will question a patient's sanity when it's the medical profession that is clearly afflicted. The onus is on patients to get informed and advocate for yourself. You cannot trust a doctor to get it right unless you push them to think then think again before diagnosing and ALWAYS get a second, third or eighth opinion.
In my own experience, out of 9 physicians, only one took a hot second to consider I might have an actual sickness rather than some whackadoo psychiatric affliction. And I was one of the LUCKY ones: I had great insurance, transportation, and no immediately life-threatening symptoms. That was a horrible experience, making what was already a bad time so much worse. If I didn't need a shrink beforehand, I certainly did once the medical professional played head games with what turned out to be myasthenia gravis, a rare autoimmune condition.
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This is a great explanation of hysteria, but don't become complacent. Hysteria is actually alive and well in DSM V as Functional Neurological System Disorder. Countless women--many with multi-system autoimmune diseases--are still having symptoms of physical ailments dismissed under this umbrella term or its predecessor, Conversion Disorder, if their doctor cannot diagnose them. Imagine that: a doctor who doesn't know the answer is able to blame the patient's mind rather than their own ignorance. As many as 15% of patients seeking care in neurology clinics are given mental illness diagnoses or referred for psychiatric care---and no evaluation by a mental health professional is required. Depending on the illness, up to 50% of patients with Multiple Sclerosis, Lyme Disease and Lupus will also be diagnosed with a psychiatric ailment with roots in hysteria. People's lives are endangered by this practice. And once a mental illness diagnosis is made, it's difficult to have physical symptoms taken seriously ever again, discouraging patients from seeking further care. Care they desperately need.
According to a report by Johns Hopkins, doctors are literally disabling and killing patients via misdiagnosis to the tune of 795k per year, yet less than 1k will have their license revoked. That leaves a lot of incompetent physicians in practice. It's mindboggling how freely medical doctors will question a patient's sanity when it's the medical profession that is clearly afflicted. The onus is on patients to get informed and advocate for yourself. You cannot trust a doctor to get it right unless you push them to think then think again before diagnosing and ALWAYS get a second, third or eighth opinion.
In my own experience, out of 9 physicians, only one took a hot second to consider I might have an actual sickness rather than some whackadoo psychiatric affliction. And I was one of the LUCKY ones: I had great insurance, transportation, and no immediately life-threatening symptoms. That was a horrible experience, making what was already a bad time so much worse. If I didn't need a shrink beforehand, I certainly did once the medical professional played head games with what turned out to be myasthenia gravis, a rare autoimmune condition.
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Nonsequitoria2010
I can kind of understand how it's taken humanity so long to get here. Male reproductive anatomy is all just out there, easy to examine and manipulate and diagnose and watch in action. Until recently, the only to get a similar experience with female reproductive anatomy was either on a dissection table or cutting live people apart for science. Let alone ultrasounds that allow us to see what actually goes on inside a uterus in real time. Add to that mow much more complex the female system is - different chemical cocktails always releasing, linings shedding, muscles contracting, polyps developing, etc. - and its really no wonder the womb is still a terrifying mystery. But I DO find it fascinating that the Greek idea of the wandering uterus wrecking the body is pretty close to our modern understanding of hormonal flux. Their awful guestimate was sorta close! XD
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I can kind of understand how it's taken humanity so long to get here. Male reproductive anatomy is all just out there, easy to examine and manipulate and diagnose and watch in action. Until recently, the only to get a similar experience with female reproductive anatomy was either on a dissection table or cutting live people apart for science. Let alone ultrasounds that allow us to see what actually goes on inside a uterus in real time. Add to that mow much more complex the female system is - different chemical cocktails always releasing, linings shedding, muscles contracting, polyps developing, etc. - and its really no wonder the womb is still a terrifying mystery. But I DO find it fascinating that the Greek idea of the wandering uterus wrecking the body is pretty close to our modern understanding of hormonal flux. Their awful guestimate was sorta close! XD
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DoBlue_
Love how the tone of this video seems so subtly jabbing and aggressive towards the unfairness of the patriarchy, and rightfully so! I’ve been watching TED-ED for a long time and they always approach their topics objectively, regardless of subject matter. This is the first time I’ve seen a video of theirs this caustic and I’m happy to see it in this particular issue. Kudos to writer Mark Micale, director Laura Hodkin, and the brilliant animators for bringing out that silliness and frustration women have felt in silence over history
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Love how the tone of this video seems so subtly jabbing and aggressive towards the unfairness of the patriarchy, and rightfully so! I’ve been watching TED-ED for a long time and they always approach their topics objectively, regardless of subject matter. This is the first time I’ve seen a video of theirs this caustic and I’m happy to see it in this particular issue. Kudos to writer Mark Micale, director Laura Hodkin, and the brilliant animators for bringing out that silliness and frustration women have felt in silence over history
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rhinosaur9636
This is a good video, but I feel like the fact that women suffer more commonly from autoimmune disorders would’ve been a good addition here. There’s a lot of things that statistically affect women more often than men, and without the knowledge of what an immune system is, I can see why the ancient Greeks came to the conclusion it was something physically different with women’s bodies
They still weren’t right of course
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This is a good video, but I feel like the fact that women suffer more commonly from autoimmune disorders would’ve been a good addition here. There’s a lot of things that statistically affect women more often than men, and without the knowledge of what an immune system is, I can see why the ancient Greeks came to the conclusion it was something physically different with women’s bodies
They still weren’t right of course
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uanime1
A poorly made video that fails to realise that in the past men noticed that women were more emotional and tried to figure out why. Ironically it's due to the hormones their ovaries produce, so blaming the uterus wasn't too far off.
In any case trying to pretend that this was solely due to misogyny, rather than lacking the technology to accurately determine this, simply perpetrates another false narrative.
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A poorly made video that fails to realise that in the past men noticed that women were more emotional and tried to figure out why. Ironically it's due to the hormones their ovaries produce, so blaming the uterus wasn't too far off.
In any case trying to pretend that this was solely due to misogyny, rather than lacking the technology to accurately determine this, simply perpetrates another false narrative.
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Fungiii11
Why is feminism always so Eurocentric in it's view of history
It's always the same narrative of opressiv men even though all that stuff they talk about only happened in Europe
The other civilization never had problems like those mentioned in this video
While the women in old Greece (the alleged first democracy known) weren't allowed to vote, Persia and Egypt were often ruled by women
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Why is feminism always so Eurocentric in it's view of history
It's always the same narrative of opressiv men even though all that stuff they talk about only happened in Europe
The other civilization never had problems like those mentioned in this video
While the women in old Greece (the alleged first democracy known) weren't allowed to vote, Persia and Egypt were often ruled by women
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ted_ed
Great video. It has been a blight on history, that controlling class assuming that the issue is other peoples inferiority, rather than seeking the truth! I have a question, every study I have seen shows that women are more likely to have anxiety and depression than men Why is that Is it men are less likely to seek help/have it reported, is it because of different physiology, cultural, or other
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Great video. It has been a blight on history, that controlling class assuming that the issue is other peoples inferiority, rather than seeking the truth! I have a question, every study I have seen shows that women are more likely to have anxiety and depression than men Why is that Is it men are less likely to seek help/have it reported, is it because of different physiology, cultural, or other
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LordOmnissiah
To be fair the Roman belief of an excretion had a minor bit of validity to it what with the discovery of hormones produced by the genitals and how it can affect mood. But beyond that one coincidental bit of truth they stumbled across the ancients were basically wrong about everything else regarding hysteria or its existence.
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To be fair the Roman belief of an excretion had a minor bit of validity to it what with the discovery of hormones produced by the genitals and how it can affect mood. But beyond that one coincidental bit of truth they stumbled across the ancients were basically wrong about everything else regarding hysteria or its existence.
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acmulhern
In the future they will make fun of the diagnosies known as irritable bowel syndrome and restless leg syndrome. Because, let's face it, they are just blanket statements for conditions in which we know the symptoms, but don't know the cause or treatment for. They could just as well be called we don't know yet syndrome
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In the future they will make fun of the diagnosies known as irritable bowel syndrome and restless leg syndrome. Because, let's face it, they are just blanket statements for conditions in which we know the symptoms, but don't know the cause or treatment for. They could just as well be called we don't know yet syndrome
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benvautour2240
Its been a long time, since we thought the uterus would run around in the body. It’s been a long time since Freud helped unwind PTSD.
It’s still going to be a long time to learn more about what’s going on with ourselves.
The best thing to do, is just get mad at everyone’s comments online
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Its been a long time, since we thought the uterus would run around in the body. It’s been a long time since Freud helped unwind PTSD.
It’s still going to be a long time to learn more about what’s going on with ourselves.
The best thing to do, is just get mad at everyone’s comments online
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synoxgames1207
I remember when I did a psych paper in my first year the lecturer was discussing different mental illness and when he got to histrionic personality disorder he told us to ignore it as it’s a completely fake disorder that was there to lock up women were feeling literally anything sad
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I remember when I did a psych paper in my first year the lecturer was discussing different mental illness and when he got to histrionic personality disorder he told us to ignore it as it’s a completely fake disorder that was there to lock up women were feeling literally anything sad
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DinsFlame-br4pr
Well the ancient Greeks were on to something about the whole wandering womb theory. there is a disease called endometriosis which does leave uterus tissues _outside_ of the womb like around the bowels, kidneys, ovaries etc. which causes a lot of pain and discomfort in women.
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Well the ancient Greeks were on to something about the whole wandering womb theory. there is a disease called endometriosis which does leave uterus tissues _outside_ of the womb like around the bowels, kidneys, ovaries etc. which causes a lot of pain and discomfort in women.
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Orangesky7-l8c
I think it’s interesting that hysteria was seen as a real condition in the 20th century, yet there were societies in which women had a lot of power centuries/millennias ago (Ancient Crete, Ancient Persia, Iroquois Confederacy, Wampanoag, etc.
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I think it’s interesting that hysteria was seen as a real condition in the 20th century, yet there were societies in which women had a lot of power centuries/millennias ago (Ancient Crete, Ancient Persia, Iroquois Confederacy, Wampanoag, etc.
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Kodack-ki2im
Yeah regardless of gender, doctors shouldn't dismiss patients pain and should treat them to alleviate suffering. It's messed up that people that don't need painkillers sometimes get them in abundance, while some people in actual pain do not.
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Yeah regardless of gender, doctors shouldn't dismiss patients pain and should treat them to alleviate suffering. It's messed up that people that don't need painkillers sometimes get them in abundance, while some people in actual pain do not.
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ted_ed
the term shellshock coined as a
more masculine alternative for hysteria, it was coined because it was most often seen in soldiers who experienced heavy shelling
ot was actually considered as a weakness and a mark of shame st first
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the term shellshock coined as a
more masculine alternative for hysteria, it was coined because it was most often seen in soldiers who experienced heavy shelling
ot was actually considered as a weakness and a mark of shame st first
reply
user-xb7ou9tb9b
I'm Japanese and use Ted-ed for studying English. I wonder wether English subtitles in your movies is correct or not. I think it's good movies to study English and to acquire a lot of knowledges.
someone tell me about it
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I'm Japanese and use Ted-ed for studying English. I wonder wether English subtitles in your movies is correct or not. I think it's good movies to study English and to acquire a lot of knowledges.
someone tell me about it
reply
ipsygypsy16
Across the ocean of Time, place & civilization; warring tribes, arch nemeses, political rivals, & religious enemies have presented One unified front. Their obsession over the woman's body, matched with their ignorance about it.
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Across the ocean of Time, place & civilization; warring tribes, arch nemeses, political rivals, & religious enemies have presented One unified front. Their obsession over the woman's body, matched with their ignorance about it.
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sorban5352
I though Hysteria designe a person who act mentally violant and crazy who act and yell violently without any reason with stress related like a Karen who don't get her way and destroy anything like a child who is refused candy.
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I though Hysteria designe a person who act mentally violant and crazy who act and yell violently without any reason with stress related like a Karen who don't get her way and destroy anything like a child who is refused candy.
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ted_ed
I was diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder and it was just being a suicidal teen newly homeless and living out of domestic violence shelters none of my basic needs of food, safety and shelter met so of course I was unwell
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I was diagnosed with histrionic personality disorder and it was just being a suicidal teen newly homeless and living out of domestic violence shelters none of my basic needs of food, safety and shelter met so of course I was unwell
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bearathon4041
Hey Ted ed I know that western society has always been misogynistic like with the hysteria period. But what about eastern cultures Like Iran, China, Asia, etc Has something similar happened there
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Hey Ted ed I know that western society has always been misogynistic like with the hysteria period. But what about eastern cultures Like Iran, China, Asia, etc Has something similar happened there
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