Hysteria in ancient civilisations a neurological review

The word hysteria originated in the Corpus Hippocraticum (c420  BCE) as a natural explanation for a variety of diseases in women linked in the Greco-Roman mind to an animate or inanimate womb, but which in the last five centuries has evolved to describe an elusive disorder of brain ± mind in men and women, currently referred to by neurologists as “func tional neurological disorder”.The Babylonians, Assyrians and Egyptians had no knowledge of brain or psychological function. Babylonian and Assyrian descriptions of disease and behaviour include only rare examples suggestive of modern hysteria.
Source: Journal of the Neurological Sciences - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Review Article Source Type: research