[The past and future of the hysteria concept]

Hysterical disorders can become apparent in physical and psychological symptoms as well as in personality traits--these may occur alone or combined. In modern medicine, the manifold nature of hysteria has always posed an immense problem in regard to the precise definition of this disorder. Several times the uselessness of the term hysteria has been stressed and its abolition suggested. Some psychiatrists have wished to exclude it from medicine altogether. In DSM-III the hysterical disorders were described in a new form and with a changed terminology; in ICD-10 a similar approach was adopted. Differences in between these systems of classification are pointed out and discussed.