Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media

Dr. Showalter's book is a well thought out critique of the "Medicalization of Human Distress." One does not need to look very far into the medical literature to find that many doctor visits find no organic cause for disease. Documentation is easy to find in the medical literature, even though the medical industry has a financial disincentive to publish anything that would classify any human condition outside the reach of medicines or surgery. Additionally, the argument that there remains some undetected disease which the doctor labels as hysteria because he or she cannot find it is logically specious. While it may be true if the doctor is not doing a good job, we have several centuries of medical science that provide us with a reasonably good set of tools to detect disease. Claims of conspiracy, or of an as yet undetected or recognized problem, is the stuff of movies and novels, but is usually not the truth. Dr. Showalter's book is most relevant because it points out truths that are well known to those who work in health care, and because she points out that the people who have these problems are not bad, weak, or of poor character. Rather, our society prescribes that people, especially women, express distress in somatic forms rather than emotional ones. Because medicine has an ever expanding focus, this form of expressing distress becomes the province of somatically focused physicians. What follows is surgery, medicines, and a conclusion that the person rightly belongs in the sick role, with all the rights that accrue to this role--disabililty payments, and release from daily responsibilities. Books like hers are increasingly important--we can no longer afford as a society to "medicalize" society's ills. To ignore her work is to contribute to the demise of the US health care system as we try to treat "nondisease." Dr. Showalter gives an excellent rationale for legitimizing stress as a medical problem, and de=emphazing medical causes and treatments for what are problems in living.

While obviously more of an anecdotal examination than a scientific study, Elaine Showalter's presentation about various (in her estimation) hysterical manifestations is enjoyable, entertaining and, to a good degree, informative. My favorites are the recovered memories, satanic ritual abuse and alien abductions, all of which appear to result from someone wanting a little ordinary, good old attention. Oh man, I have deceased relatives from rural Central Texas who would have THRIVED on these sorts of things, if only they'd every known or thought about them. I was surprised, though, that the author did not mention the radiation hysteria of the late 1940s and 1950s, the early days of the atomic age when everyone was hunting everywhere for uranium -- like that incident wherein an entire film factory was torn down because the owners were CONVINCED that radioactivity was clouding one particular type of their film (and not a light leak). I can see where some folks, such as Gulf War vets and chronically tired workers, would take umbrage at the suggestion their maladies are not genuine -- but that's for the reader to decide. I sincerely hope that the rest of my 14 separate personalities (the ones old enough to read, that is) find as much entertainment in this book as I did.

From dramatic testimonies by veterans on Gulf War syndrome, to popular Hollywood productions featuring alien abduction, the media has presented us with a panoply of reasons to become distressed. Yet the public, let alone the scientific community, is far from reaching a consensus on an explanation for these phenomena. One brave soul has tackled these contentious issues and the media's related role in fanning the flame. As an academic nestled behind the ivy walls of Princeton, Professor Showalter was probably well situated for intellectual duels. She was, however, probably less prepared for the violent reactions to her new book. In addition to a number of threats, Showalter has braved physical assaults for her provocative thesis: Modern forms of hysteria, including chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War syndrome, recovered memory, multiple personality disorder, satanic ritual abuse, and alien abduction, are disorders that are primarily psychological, rather than physical, in nature. Professor Showalter's training in literary criticism and her status as a leading feminist historian of psychiatry provides an interesting perspective on the mass resistance to her conclusion. According to Showalter, hysterical patients believe psychosomatic disorders are illegitimate. But in their very real distress, they "search for physical evidence that firmly places cause and cure outside the self," thereby expressing their pain and conflict in the form of culturally acceptable language of body illness. STATS was drawn by her explanation for how modern media contribute to this hysterical epidemic. From newspapers, magazines, self-help books, and the Internet, to radio and TV talk shows, Showalter argues that modern media, in all its forms, accounts for the unprecedented spread of culturally fashionable narratives, which she terms "hystories." In a Freudian analysis of this phenomenon, she further shows how patients learn about diseases from the media and unconsciously develop symptoms. These common "plot lines" in our culture (e.g. what an alien looks like) explain how hysteric patients can independently tell the same story. In a recent appearance on C-SPAN's About Books (6/21/97), Showalter discussed how we can apply the techniques of literary deconstruction to a more critical reading of news. Dissecting a New York Times article on Gulf War illness, she cautioned against imprecise use of words, particularly when reporting on scientific matters. Showalter pointed out that phrases such as "substantial evidence" and "the evidence is clear" are really uncl

I just wanted to say, having ACTUALLY READ this book, that thethose who attacked it here were the ones who made me buy it.That being said, this is an excellent survey on the subject, with wise insight into those who exploit, to their own ends and further victimize people by using the stimatization of one word: hysteria--- while not examining the power of psychosomatic illness. While I would toss out most of the Freudian crap, it---it only makes sense that our culture is making us sick. We are dehumanized by corporate materialism, social darwinism, social isolation, and definitions of worthiness based on bank accounts and toys. At the same time, everyone is told they are expendable. Is it any surprise, that people are depressed?

This is a book on various medical and psychological topics byan English professor who has previously written on illness in the 19thcentury. I am expert only in one aspect of her topic, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In that area, the writer does not cite any current research. Her citations, generally, are from the popular press. She has not interviewed any of the academic experts (at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, U of Washington, etc.) on the illness. Nor has she spoken with any of the many physicians who specialize in treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Thus she has not accessed the current knowlege of this illness, and her opinions should be judged in that light. This is not an expert performance.^M ^M Frank Albrecht, Ph.D.