Hysteria In Victorian Era

Hysteria has a long history around the world. The word itself was used for the first time in Ancient Greece by Hippocrates, but as a disorder it was described as early as 1900 BC in Ancient Egypt. The word kept appearing all other the world, in all the different ages, from the times of Roman Empire to Middle Ages to Renaissance. There is one thing in common in all descriptions, it was specific to women and attributed to “traveling womb”.
In Victorian era female purity was strongly emphasized and the society supported the idea of ideal woman being a wife, a mother, and a keeper of the house. As guardians of the home women were believed to be more dependent, gentle and emotional by nature. These perceptions also lead to the belief that women were more susceptible to illness, both physical and mental, which made it common for women to be diagnosed with hysteria when most often they were actually suffering from anxiety and depression, inevitable with the lack of control over their lives.
Afterwards he claimed that the list was incomplete. On 1859 another physician, George Taylor, claimed that quarter of all women suffered from hysteria. Since during Victorian era hysteria was eluding medical explanation, the only reason physicians provided for diagnoses was that stress associated with modern life made “civilized women more susceptible to nervous disorder and faulted reproductive