On Fri, 18 Dec 1998, Carrol Cox wrote:
> Just a note. I first checked with a clinical psychologist on this.
> "Hysteria," on which Showalter bases so much of her argument, is not a
> diagnosis used in current clinical practice. There is no such thing.
>
Carrol, *nowhere* in her book does Showalter suggest that hysteria should
be understood in a clinical sense.
>From *Hystories*--
"IN recent years, hysteria has disappeared from consulting rooms, hospital wards, and psychiatric textbooks, as many of its traditional symptoms were reclassified as anxiety neuroses, obsessional disorders, manic depression, or borderline personality disorders...What used to be called hysteria is now diagnosed as somatization disorder, conversion disorder, or dissociative identity disorder.
Despite this adoption of new terminology, many doctors and researchers still feel that the concept of hysteria is still misleading, moralistic, and judgemental, either exaggerating the wisdom of the physician or trivializing the patients pain...While I recognize the difficulties of terminology, it makes sense to use the words hysteria and hysterical, both to draw on extensive records and to emphasize the continuities between past and present. (p. 17)
frances