Feature cover image from Unsplash
Recently, I’ve been watching the hit HBO Max show The Pitt, and I know this show is fictional, I thought to myself “I wish these doctors were as understanding as doctors in real life.” This makes me think of how often women aren’t taken seriously with their medical concerns. It also made me think about the history of hysteria and how the term may be no longer used but still lingers into modern practice.
I’ll give a brief history overview of this term, as this blog post would turn into an essay. In the past, “Hysteria” was a disorder that women were diagnosed with and used as a way to dismiss women’s physical and emotional concerns. Women’s experiences were framed as illogical and too emotional rather than them being taken seriously. Symptoms such as anxiety, depression, migraines and many more were considered to be in this diagnosis. Instead of giving treatment to these women, they would be ignored and even institutionalized.
Medicine has always been sexist // The History of Hysteria [CC]
Dating back to text from Ancient Egypt and later Ancient Greece, hysteria was considered to be caused by problems with the uterus. The “wandering womb” would later be a Greek hypothesis that would explain the symptoms that doctors couldn’t fully grasp. In the 16th and 17th century, doctors would shift the blame to women for lacking self-control and strength, and their vulnerability to sin. This later led to women being accused of witchcraft causing life threatening consequences. This impact of the diagnosis lasted for centuries. Moving into the 18th and 19th century, hysteria had been the main label of women who had experienced emotional distress or even not conforming to traditional gender expectations. Not only was hysteria a way to mitigate women’s health concerns but also was a way of reinforcing social norms.
While doing my research for this blog post, it reminded me of a story that my grandma told me. She told me that her grandma was sent to a psychiatric institution for what today would likely be recognized as postpartum depression. At the time, her condition was misunderstood, and her husband was the one who made the decision to have her institutionalized. This story really stuck with me because it showed women’s mental and physical health have historically been controlled and minimized. Even though she’s a distant relative, it breaks my heart that she had to deal with this mistreatment and that she later died in the institution. It’s definitely interesting how this isn’t just historical, but is also personal as I’m sure many other people have similar stories in their own families. It also shows that the history of hysteria isn’t as far away as it may seem.
The history of this is still relevant today. The term hysteria wasn’t fully dismissed from medical language until 1980. Even though the term is removed, the bias still remains. Many of women’s symptoms are still dismissed or assigned to anxiety, stress, or hormones. Even if today’s doctors aren’t intentionally dismissive, these patterns can still subtly appear, and women still try to advocate for being understood.
After reflecting on this, I learned how healthcare isn’t only shaped by science, but by history and bias. This made me understand the importance of taking time to question and research past terms. Being aware of this can lead us in the right direction of understanding how history has shaped current medical practices. This knowledge can help us find ways to improve the healthcare system where all patients are heard, respected, and given the proper care they need. I hope that you learned something new from this post!
I had never heard of the term “wandering womb” before now & that just goes to show, like you said, the importance of researching and questioning past terms because they shape the way healthcare is today. It really shows how deeply rooted sexism in healthcare is.