Table of Contents

Part 1 - History
1: Mace: All in the mind? The history of hysterical conversion as a clinical concept
2: Palmer: War based hysteria - the military perspective
3: King: Recovering hysteria from history: Herodotus and the 'first case of shell shock'
Part 2 - Definition
4: Cloninger: The origins of DSM and ICD criteria for conversion and somatization disorders
5: Wessely: Discrepancies between diagnostic criteria and clinical practice
6: Merskey: Conversion, dissociation or doxomorphic disorder
7: Jones & Sprince: Conversion hysteria: a legal diagnosis
Part 3 - Clinical Presentation
8: Kirmayer & Santhanam: The anthropology of hysteria
9: House & Akagi: The epidemiology of hysterical conversion
10: Trimble: Non-epileptic seizures
11: Zeman & Stone: Hysterical conversion - the view from clinical neurology
12: Bass: Factitious disorders and malingering
Part 4 - Possible Mechanisms
13: Craig: Life events: meanings and precursors
14: Shoenberg: Psychodynamic theories in conversion hysteria
15: Spence: Disorders of willed action
16: Sierra & Berrios: Conversion hysteria: the relevance of attentional awareness
17: McConkey: Hysteria and hypnosis: cognitive and social influences
18: Athwal, Halligan, Marshall, Fink & Frackowiak: Imaging hysterical paralysis
Part 5 - Prognosis and Management
19: Ron: The prognosis of hysteria/somatization disorder
20: Temple: Psychodynamic psychotherapy in the treatment of conversion hysteria
21: Chalder: Cognitive behavioural therapy as a treatment for conversion disorder
22: Oakley: Hypnosis and suggestion in the treatment of hysteria
23: Wade: Rehabilitation for hysterical conversion states: a critical review and conceptual reconstruction

Promotional Information

Entered for the Society of Authors and the Royal Society of Medicine Medical Book Awards 2001

Reviews

This book is a welcome addition to the literature on hysteria and provides a balanced and generally critical review of contemporary theories on classification, epidemiology, aetiology and management... This book can be recommended to all those interested in the bewildering yet fascinating hinterland between neurology and psychiatry.
*British Journal of Psychiatry*