Hysteria in Children.

Abstract

Hysteria in children was first described by Ranvlin, in 1748. Before him, in 1681, Lepois had ventured to combat Hipprocrates' view that it was a uterine disorder, and heretofore only a female complaint, but he had not gone beyond this. Nor did Ranvlin treat of the subject in a clear manner. It remained for Briquet, in 1855, to show that it did occur in children, and as frequently as in adults. At that time Carter and Brodie had already published their admirable articles on hysteria in adults, but they had ignored its presence in childhood. Since Briquet's time, Bourneville, Baginsky, Tourette, Casaubon, Ollivier, Clopault, Richer, Charcot, etc., have enriched the literature on the subject. Today it is generally accepted that hysteria is not rare among children, and that as a children's disease it dates from antiquity, as witness the children's crusades, the epidemics of chorea magna, the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, etc. But this acceptance has come slowly. In the early 80's, through the work of Seeligmueller, Henoeh and Schaefer, Ger¬ many, and; in the last decade America and England, have followed France. Briquet claims that one-fifth of all the cases of hys¬ teria occur in childhood. Jolly confirms this state¬ ment for Germany. Putnam, Mills and Taylor agree that it is frequent in America, while Sachs, Burr and Jacobi seem to think its frequency is exaggerated. In this, however, they are in the minority. It is a fact that the physician of today , in this country, is woefully ignorant of such subjects; that in

Separation and not residency permit restores function in resignation syndrome: a retrospective cohort study

“…As far as we can tell, the separations we have studied were performed with the child’s best interest in mind and should not be confused with other contemporary examples of family separation in migrant populations [ 32 ]. In fact, although to our knowledge rarely practiced, separation has previously been suggested potent in severe cases of pediatric hysteria [ 22 , 23 ] and as a component in multimodal rehabilitation of medically unexplained symptoms in children [ 24 ].…”

“…The latter two are unique to Solsidan–and contrary to the national guideline [ 9 ]–while stimulation is practiced elsewhere, however, unlikely equally intensely. Interestingly, separation, although controversial, has historically been proposed effective in treating paediatric hysteria [ 22 , 23 ] and is contemporarily recommended to counter medically unexplained symptoms in children [ 24 ].…”

Functional Movement Disorders in Children

“…Different term that is interchangeably used for FNDs in the old literature includes hysteria, conversion disorder, psychogenic disorder, non-organic, and dissociative disorder. Although hysteria was first described in children by Ranvlin in 1748, it was continued to be believed as "not a disease of childhood, but one which is occasionally seen in early life" (2). But later in the 1850s, Briquet showed that it did occur in children, and as frequently as in adults (3).…”