BIOGRAPHY
HISTORICAL ARTICLE
JOURNAL ARTICLE
Add like
Add dislike
Add to saved papers

[Hippocratic concept of hysteria].

The Greek physicians of the fourth century B.C. painstakingly described a number of symptoms that they thought were caused by migrations of a restless uterus, said "wandering womb". According to this concept, we can use the term "hysteria", despite the fact that the noun itself never appears in any of the Hippocratic texts. We can determine its origin as being in ancient Egypt from the medical writings of the Egyptian papyri. In the same way, the therapy is mainly of Egyptian origin, using a combination of recipes to make the moving womb return to its proper place in the body cavity. However, we can also identify the rationality of the Greeks, in particular as regards mechanical physiopathology. Hippocratic authors are closely connected with presocratical physics, and manifest a distinct break with magic and religion. Furthermore, they claim that hysteria may result from prolonged sexual continence, an opinion which was to influence medical history for over two thousand years.

Full text links

We have located links that may give you full text access.
Can't access the paper?
Try logging in through your university/institutional subscription. For a smoother one-click institutional access experience, please use our mobile app.

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

Mobile app image

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app

All material on this website is protected by copyright, Copyright © 1994-2024 by WebMD LLC.
This website also contains material copyrighted by 3rd parties.

By using this service, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

Your Privacy Choices Toggle icon

You can now claim free CME credits for this literature searchClaim now

Get seemless 1-tap access through your institution/university

For the best experience, use the Read mobile app