Abstract

Like any other disease, hysteria too has been misinterpreted by ancient medical practitioners and even by the physicians of the late 17th century. The connotation of hysteria had a very gendered perspective and the entire discourse was based on the physicality of the sufferers. The intervention of Freud completely changed the discourse of hysteria. This paper is a descriptive study that examines the trajectory of hysteria from the ancient time through the Middle Ages through the 16^th and 17^th centuries up to the Freudian intervention. Freud’s role in hysteria de-historicized the traditional approach which is the basis of modern-day psychology to solve the mystery of hysteria.

Keywords: Wandering womb, Freud, Hysteria, Gender, Psychology