Women with hysteria under the effects of hypnosis, ca. Women considered to be suffering from it exhibited a wide array of symptoms including faintness, nervousness, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in abdomen, muscle spasm, shortness of breath, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, and “a tendency to cause trouble”. Hysteria was widely discussed in the medical literature of the Victorian era. Its diagnosis and treatment was routine for many hundreds of years in Western Europe. The Fainting Couch or Chaise Lounge became popular for the ladies’ comfort during this “treatment”.įemale hysteria was a once-common medical diagnosis, made exclusively in women, which is today no longer recognized by modern medical authorities as a medical disorder. Yes, the doctor could treat the women in their home.
Instead it was much easier to call for the doctor when a woman exhibited symptoms of hysteria. But what about the husbands? What did they have to say about this? Well, proper gentlemen of the time were not trained to see to their wives needs – it was not even understood that women had needs.
