Charcot's hysteria renaissant

Abstract

The authenticity of Charcot's original descriptions of hysteria has been questioned in the popular media. None the less, it is still possible to encounter florid forms of hysteria in culturally deprived communities, and to answer Charcot's present day critics we present a selection of patients from Kentucky's Appalachian counties with hysterial neurological disease. Their case histories are contrasted with those Charcot himself described and thereby form a modern commentary on such conditions as la grande hysterie, hysteroepilepsy, hysterotraumatic monoplegia, and hysterical hemianaesthesia.