Where it all began…
What is Hysteria?
Derived from the Greek word for Uterus
Throughout history, the idea of Hysteria evolved around the world as a condition only affecting women, where symptoms of depression or madness would be linked to the uterus and healed through sex. This ‘condition’ was subsequently used to exclude women from important roles in society and to dismiss actual health concerns.
Oxford Dictionary definition:
‘An old-fashioned term for a disorder characterized by neurological symptoms often accompanied by exaggeratedly or inappropriately emotional behaviour, originally attributed to disease or injury of the nervous system and later thought to be functional or psychological in origin’
The Timeline of Hysteria
Hysteria, or at least the idea of it, has been kicking around for a while…
The first appearance of a mental disorder that solely affected women was thought to be caused by uterus movement around the body.
Hysteria arises in the legend of the fictional Argonaut Melampus of Pylos in 1400 BC. The story goes Melampus was tasked with curing a group of virgins who had refused to ‘honour the phallus and left to the mountains’ and showed signs of hallucination and madness. Their symptoms are attributed to a lack of orgasms and uterine melancholy. Charming.
The cure? Sex of course!
Even the well-known myth of Pandora, a beautiful woman with dangerous insides shows the fear of the female anatomy as these ‘dangerous insides’ were, of course, her womb.
Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates jumped on the idea that the uterus is melancholy when not joined with the male and so Hysteria became a prevalent condition of the unsatisfied woman. Why are these men so important? Let me introduce you to:
Philosopher
Attributed hysteria to a psychological force from the womb of sexual desire perverted by frustration
Philosopher
Used hysteria as a reason to exclude women from education and society
HIPPOCRATES: 5th Century BC
The Greek Physician and Philosopher was the first to define hysteria.
Hysteria was attributed to a wandering uterus which is caused by bad humors (things in the body that cause sickness when unbalanced) that remain due to lack of expulsion via sex, describing the female body as cold and wet (as opposed to the warm and dry male body), meaning sickness is easily contracted by the uterus. The uterus of a widowed, virgin, or single woman was labeled as ‘bad’ due to lack of satisfaction and was said to be the cause of symptoms of anxiety and convulsions or paralysis. Again, the cure was sex! (Only marital, of course).
Philosophers were considered the most influential thinkers in Ancient Greece. This means Plato, Aristotle and Hippocrates were heavily influential in politics and society. Hysteria therefore infiltrates into the thinking of society, contributing to systemic discrimination against women.
Rome: 1st Century BC & 2nd Century AD
Galen studied women presenting with Hysteria and concluded that the condition was a result of a suffocated uterus that happened when insufficient intercourse was had.
Roman and Greek Physician, surgeon and philosopher
Hugely influential in the history of medicine as well as society. Essentially, his opinion mattered.
Middle ages: 500-1500AD
The writings of Hippocrates and Galen spread through Europe as well as being translated into Arabic. Psychotherapies targeted at women were developed. In writings from this time, women were not referred to as ‘patients’ but as the ‘cause’ of the symptoms they were experiencing.
Hysterical women were sent for exorcism and the condition is quickly confused with witchery and the devil is a root of mental illness- of course predominantly affecting the single or elderly women.
This is a clear example of Hysteria being used to justify misogynistic attitudes towards women.
The influence of Hysteria
Exclusion from society
Classical age 500-336 BC
Women’s participation in Polis (Greek city state) was prohibited
Aristotle used the idea of hysteria to explain why this should be the case. The exclusion was justified on the basis of a lack of control of their emotional state during their menstruation period.
No say in city-state, no say in their healthcare!
Athens
"No Greek State ever enfranchised women. In Athens, they could not attend or vote at meetings of the assembly, sit on juries, or serve as council members, magistrates, or generals." (Blundel 128)
The lack of exploration into women’s health was reflected in their social status- it was not a priority and if anything, medicine was used to further oppress women from positions of power.
Stereotype enforcement through education
In the early sketches of skeletons, the female frame was given wide childbearing hips and significantly smaller craniums than men, clearly highlighting the intended social status of women.
Influencing misdiagnosis
The use of the female anatomy to exclude women from society still impacts women today. The historical attribution of psychosomatic or psychological disorders to women undermines the severity of women’s health concerns. Often, this leads to dangerous stereotypes of women’s health issues being psychological and increases the likelihood of symptoms not being taken seriously.
Over 1/3 of women who go to the GP with symptoms of menopause are prescribed antidepressants
The data gap
Today a huge data gap exists due to the female body being under-studied.
This is the case for two main reasons. Firstly, the female body was viewed as too complicated and fragile to research on, meaning women were often excluded from clinical trials. Secondly, a lack of women in positions of power with a influence over decisions meant women were rarely the focus of any discussion in politics, medicine and innovation. This male focus becomes habit, and consideration of women non-existent.
For example, a study to investigate the impact of oestrogen as a protective mechanism against heart disease was designed after observations of an increased risk in women after menopause (when oestrogen levels drop). This study involved 8,341 men and no women…
The root of the two factors I mentioned can be boiled down to Hysteria. The idea of a women’s ‘bad biology’ simply made women unfit for pretty much anything that wasn’t childbearing.
McKinsey & Co have some fantastic analysis on this data gap, breaking it down into 4 key areas:
Pre-data generation: a lack of an actual definition of women’s health. As I’ve discussed, womens health should incorporate general health, as well as sexual and reproductive.
Data generation: diagnosis inaccuracies mean there is less data on how certain conditions affect women
Data aggregation: gaps in data that are used to advise public-health and investments
Data analysis: The way data is processed may lead to underestimations of the suffering endured by women with health issues
Summary
Despite Hysteria being removed from the DSM 3 (a manual used to diagnose mental disorders) in 1980 its impact is vast. It’s use as an excuse to exclude women from society, attribute health concerns to a psychological origin and transform womens health into a taboo topic has carved out the Gender Health Gap as we know it. For the majority of medical innovation, women’s health simply wasn’t a consideration as our bodies were considered too complicated, variable, and emotional. The result is a vast data gap with 51% of the UK population feeling the effects.