The Major Symptoms of Hysteria

In this series of lectures delivered in English by the author while visiting the USA, Janet summarises the (at the time) cutting edge perspective on the various forms of hysteria. The syndromes include generalised amnesic states and conversion disorders, and show Janet's highly influential views regarding the fundamental role of dissociation. The lectures provide an insight into the development of this area of psychiatry out of the neurological field of the nineteenth century, with Janet dropping some famous names from the history of medicine.

By : Pierre Janet

Pierre Marie Félix Janet (French: [ʒanɛ]; 30 May 1859 – 24 February 1947) was a pioneering French psychologist, philosopher and psychotherapist in the field of dissociation and traumatic memory. He is ranked alongside William James and Wilhelm Wundt as one of the founding fathers of psychology.

00 - Prefatory note 01 - Lecture 1: The Problem of Hysteria 02 - Lecture 2: Monoideic Somnambulisms 03 - Lecture 3: Fugues and Polyideic Somnambulisms 04 - Lecture 4: Double Personalities 05 - Lecture 5: Convulsive Attacks, Fits of Sleep, Artificial Somnambulisms 06 - Lecture 6: Motor Agitations - Contractures 07 - Lecture 7: Paralyses - Diagnosis 08 - Lecture 8: The Psychological Conception of Paralyses and Anesthesias 09 - Lecture 9: The Troubles of Vision 10 - Lecture 10: The Troubles of Speech 11 - Lecture 11: The Disturbances of Alimentation 12 - Lecture 12: The Tics of Respiration and Alimentation 13 - Lecture 13: The Hysterical Stigmata - Suggestibility 14 - Lecture 14: The Hysterical Stigmata - the Retraction of the Field of Consciousness - the Common Stigmata 15 - Lecture 15: General Definitions