The female hysteria was an illness diagnosed in Western medicine until the middle of the century XIX , but was not discontinued as such until 1,952.
It affected more than 70% of women.
Following a medical treatise of the time, the symptoms were:
“Motor disorders are convulsions or paralysis, and traditionally, the crisis begins with an aura, consisting of abdominal pains, palpitations, choking sensation, and visual disturbances (partial or complete blindness), followed by an apparent loss of consciousness and a controlled fall, followed by the epileptoid phase, composed of respiratory arrest, tetanization, seizures and, finally, a resolution in the form of general fatigue and noisy breathing.As a final phase, contortions (disordered movements and screams) and a period of trance, with imitation of erotic or violent scenes The end of the crisis implies the return of consciousness, accompanied by slight contractions and expression of unconnected words or phrases related to passional themes “.
In the Victorian era it was the usual diagnosis of a wide range of symptoms, including fainting, insomnia, fluid retention, abdominal heaviness, muscle spasms, shortness of breath, irritability, severe headaches, loss of appetite and “tendency to cause problems”. »
Patients diagnosed with female hysteria should receive a treatment known as “pelvic massage” , manual stimulation of the woman’s genitals by the doctor until reaching the orgasm that, in the context of the time, was called “hysterical paroxysm” , when considering The repressed sexual desire of women a disease.
The diagnosis and treatment of ‘ female hysteria’ was routine in Western Europe and America during the 1900s.
A disorder that was largely related to sexual dissatisfaction, where the only possible known cure was pelvic massage sessions.
During these sessions, a doctor manually stimulated the woman’s genitals, until the patient experienced repeated orgasms.
It impregnated a finger in oil of flowers, usually lilies or nards, and vigorously massaged the genital area of ​​the woman until it reached the climax, and thus alleviating his “hysteria” .
And so we come to the nineteenth century, where this alleged disease that the Greeks had described the “fiery uterus” , becomes a kind of plague among women of the time.
Any strange behavior – anxiety, irritability, sexual fantasies – is considered a clear symptom and the patient is sent immediately to receive a relaxing massage.
And is that despite the passage of the century, still not considered women sexual beings and it was believed that the female psychiatric disorders came from the womb.
The doctors continued to fight female hysteria by manually stroking the clitoris and vulva of the patients until they could reach what at that time was known as “hysterical paroxysm , ” which was actually an orgasm.
Since at that time it was frowned upon for a woman to go alone to the consultation, it was common for husbands or mothers to wait while sitting next to the patient while the doctor quietly masturbated them.
The need to increase the efficiency in terms of the speed of the woman reaching orgasm, motivated the invention of various stimulation devices, which are currently exhibited in various museums. (see images at the beginning of the text).
Vaginal washing was another habitual way of treating it , especially in psychiatric hospitals such as the Hospital de Sancpetriere in Paris by Dr. Charcot.
Thanks to this illness, Sigmund Freud began to understand that there was something more than CONSCIENCE, that is, he began to discover the existence of the UNCONSCIOUS.
Freud ended up saying that what was known as female hysteria was caused by a traumatic event that had been repressed in the unconscious , but it continued to emerge in the form of attacks that lacked explanation.
The history of hysteria goes back to antiquity.
It was described by both the philosopher Plato and the physician Hippocrates and is collected earlier in Egyptian papyri.
A myth of ancient Greece relates that the uterus wanders through a woman’s body, causing illness to the victim when it reaches the breast.
This theory accounts for the origin of the name, since the root comes from the Greek word for uterus , hystera .
Hence the name of HISTERECTOMY , to the surgical removal of the uterus to women today.
Galen, an important physician of the second century , wrote that hysteria was a disease caused by sexual deprivation in particularly passionate women.
It was particularly supported by religions, (especially the Catholic), that the ORGASM IN THE WOMAN WOULD BE CONSIDERED SUCH AS SOMETHING OF VICIOUS, PECAMINOUS, NURSERY, and more proper nature of prostitutes and immoral women.
Hysteria was diagnosed frequently in virgins, nuns, widows and, sometimes, married women.
The prescription in Medieval and Renaissance medicine was intercourse if married, marriage if single, and a midwife’s massage as a last resort.
Victorian age
A doctor in 1859 said that ONE OF FOUR WOMEN was afflicted with hysteria.
Rachael P. Maines, author of “The Technology of Orgasm: Hysteria, the Vibrator, and Women’s Sexual Satisfaction”, has observed that these cases were very advantageous for doctors, since there was no risk of the patient dying but needed treatment constant.
The only problem was that the doctors did not enjoy the tedious task of massage.
The technique was difficult to master for a doctor and it could take hours to reach “hysterical paroxysm.” (so called then to female orgasm).
Deriving them to midwives, an otherwise usual practice, was a waste of business opportunities for the doctor.
One solution was the invention of the devices to provide massages, which eliminated the need to resort to a midwife.
Hydrotherapy devices were sold in Bath in the late 18th century and by the mid-19th century they were a popular fixture in luxury spa resorts in Europe and the United States.
A 1918 ad for Sears, Roebuck and Co. with many models of vibr@tors.
From 1870 the doctors had the first mechanical vibrator and in 1873 the first electromechanical vibrator was used in an asylum in France.
Although the doctors of the time recognized that the disorder came from sexual dissatisfaction , they seemed reluctant to admit the sexual purpose of the devices used to treat it, and the manifest lack of interest on the part of the man to lead the woman to total sexual satisfaction. during the relationship.
In fact, the introduction of the speculum was much more controversial than that of the vibrator, probably due to its more phallic nature.
At the end of the 19th century, the diffusion of electricity in the home facilitated the arrival of the vibrator to the consumer market.
The attractiveness of a cheaper treatment in the privacy of the home caused the vibrator to reach a certain popularity.
In fact, the electric vibrator reached the market much earlier than other “essential” devices: nine years before the vacuum cleaner and ten years before the electric iron.
A page from the catalog of the 1918 Sears, Roebuck and Company international appliance company includes an advertisement for a portable vibrator with accessories, described as “very useful and satisfactory for home use”.
Theories about Victorian hysteria:
It has been said that one of the major themes of the 19th century was the conflict between sex as reproduction and as satisfaction.
It used to be admitted, even now even in many rural areas, that when the woman reaches an orgasm in the intimate relationship, she can get pregnant, and that only the male has the right and the need for it.
As these beliefs decreased, the reproductive function of sex lost some of its preponderance.
The medical and marital writings of the time praised the dispassionate woman and pointed her out as a model.
The “ideal” woman would only have sex to reproduce because she would not receive any other benefit.
This culture anti-pleasure-physiological need, was very nourished during much of the twentieth century by priests and religious orders, which joined sexual pleasure to the demonic, and ONLY RESERVED TO THE VARON, as a means prior to conception, which should be the essential reason for the act.
This “ideal” influenced the social structure in many ways, providing a basis for arguments against contraceptives.
However, at the same time it resulted in the sexual dissatisfaction of many women, which prompted the growing demand for treatments against hysteria.
Throughout the first years of the twentieth century the number of diagnoses of female hysteria declined.
BECAUSE MASTURBATION WAS CULTURIZED IN WOMEN, AND BETWEEN THEM THEY WERE OPENLY SPEAKING ABOUT THIS.
There are many reasons that explain this decline; Many writers of the medical field assure that it is because the people began to better understand the psychology of conversion disorders.
It has also been argued that all that changed was the consideration of doctors.
With so many possible symptoms, hysteria was a diagnosis where any state that could not be easily identified fell.
History is in favor of the theory that affirms that it was Sigmund Freud and Jean-Martin Charcot that led to the disappearance of hysteria as a disease by deepening the study of the mind.
As the diagnostic techniques improved, the number of cases decreased until none was left.
In 1952 , the American Psychiatric Association officially declared that female hysteria was not a legitimate disease, but an outdated myth, and the “female orgasm” a physiological necessity such as eating or sleeping; whose inattention could cause disorders and dysfunctions of many indoles. In East and particularly in India ‘s Ayurvedic medicine recognized the ” female sexual blockade” as a consequence of the lack of satisfying orgasms caused by marital conflicts, or prolonged periods of sexual abstinence, particularly affecting communication between
Chakra Muladhara, Swadhistana and Manipura, as well as for intense emotional somatizations in toxic relationships of couple. (Infidelity mainly).
The pranic massage , and some holistic techniques unlock these disorders .
In Traditional Chinese Medicine as well, needle techniques were used to produce it, recognizing the “sexual block “, not as a physical disease, but ENERGY .