November 16, 2010
Blurb
Is it wise to slap a hysterical person?
Absolutely not. Most psychiatrists avoid the word hysteria, because it's loaded with sexist baggage from the 19th century. (More on that below.) It's also poorly defined, since what a layperson might describe as hysterical behavior can have any number of causes. Otherwise healthy persons may behave erratically in stressful situations, but a panic attack may also signal the beginning of a conversion disorder —when psychological stress causes physical symptoms such as loss of coordination, hallucinations, or imperviousness to pain. (These symptoms usually dissipate in a few weeks.) In rare cases, hysteria can indicate a serious underlying disorder like psychosis. No matter what the cause of a given episode, however, a slap won't improve matters. On the contrary, it will likely only amplify the sufferer's chaotic mental state, confirm his or her feelings of fear or paranoia, and possibly provoke counter-aggression….
Read more at http://www.slate.com/id/2275306/
Absolutely not. Most psychiatrists avoid the word hysteria, because it's loaded with sexist baggage from the 19th century. (More on that below.) It's also poorly defined, since what a layperson might describe as hysterical behavior can have any number of causes. Otherwise healthy persons may behave erratically in stressful situations, but a panic attack may also signal the beginning of a conversion disorder —when psychological stress causes physical symptoms such as loss of coordination, hallucinations, or imperviousness to pain. (These symptoms usually dissipate in a few weeks.) In rare cases, hysteria can indicate a serious underlying disorder like psychosis. No matter what the cause of a given episode, however, a slap won't improve matters. On the contrary, it will likely only amplify the sufferer's chaotic mental state, confirm his or her feelings of fear or paranoia, and possibly provoke counter-aggression….
Read more at http://www.slate.com/id/2275306/