What does the word hysteria mean?
-
-
A species of neurosis, classed amongst the spasmi by Sauvages and Cullen, and in the Nevroses de la generation, by Pinel. It received the name of hysteria, because it was reputed to have its seat in the uterus. It generally occurs in paroxysms; the principal characters of which consist in alternate fits of laughing and crying, with a sensation as if a ball set out from the uterus and ascended towards the stomach, chest, and neck, producing a sense of strangulation. If the attack be violent, there is, sometimes, loss of consciousness( although the presence of consciousness generally distinguishes it from epilepsy) and convulsions. The duration of the attacks is very variable. It appears to be dependent upon irregularity of nervous distribution in very impressible persons, and is not confined to the female; for well-marked cases of hysteria are occasionally met with in men. During the fit, - dashing cold water on the face, stimulants applied to the nose, or exhibited internally, and antispasmodics, form the therapeutical agents. Exercise, tranquillity of mind, amusing and agreeable occupations constitute the prophylactics. See Mania, dancing.
-
A disease in which there is a primary functional derangement of the higher cerebral centres and a secondary derangement of the lower nervous centres, producing depression of the will-power on the one hand and excessive susceptibility to external impressions and subjective sensations on the other, and hence characterized by lack of control over the actions and emotions, conspicuous self-consciousness, a morbid craving for sympathy, and a tendency to exaggerate, consciously or unconsciously, the effect of sensory impression and to imagine or simulate the most various symptoms which have no foundation in organic conditions of the body. Symptoms: pain and tenderness, especially over the ovaries, spine, and vertex( clavus hystericus), hyperaesthesia, both cutaneous and of the special senses, paraesthesiae of various kinds, anaesthesiae, amblyopia, attacks of suffocation or choking( globus hystericus), paralysis, especially of the adductors of the vocal cords( hysterical aphonia), but also occurring as paraplegia and hemiplegia, tonic spasms( contracture) of various muscles, including those of the lower jaw( hysterical trismus), clonic spasms, true convulsions, gastro-intestinal symptoms( anorexia, vomiting, flatulence, constipation) retention and even suppression of urine, cardiac palpitation, vaso-motor disturbances( flushing and pallor of surface), syncope, fever, cataleptic or lethargic states, mental disorder, hallucinations. H. minor, hysteria associated with mild convulsive symptoms, but without loss of consciousness. H. major, hystero-epilepsy.
-
Usage examples for hysteria
-
Then he had a momentary return of his hysteria and said: " I say, old boy, I should like to see a chart of our fortnight's cruise in Wilkinson's yacht." – The Ball and The Cross by G.K. Chesterton
-
There had been, as the Chief and the Boss had hinted at in their conversation, a wave of hysteria which had swept over the city only a short time before regarding what had come to be called the " poisoned needle" cases. – Guy Garrick by Arthur B. Reeve
Each person working in the medical industry sometimes needs to know how to define a word from medical terminology. For example - how to explain hysteria? Here you can see the medical definition for hysteria. Medical-dictionary.cc is your online dictionary, full of medical definitions.