An investigation of hysteria using the Illness Behaviour Questionnaire

Seventy-nine patients with a diagnosis of hysteria were compared, on a number of variables, with a control group of neurological patients without psychiatric morbidity, and with psychiatric patients free from somatic complaints. Demographic information was obtained, and rating scales for the assessment of personality and mood, were administered, as well as Pilowsky's illness Behaviour Questionnaire. The data confirm the high incidence of affective disturbance in particular, depression and anxiety in patients with hysteria. There was no link between hysteria and early hospitalisation, although associations were found with sexual disturbances, a past history of vague or undiagnosed illness, affective inhibition, and denial. Relationships between personality and illness behaviour reveal links between personality dimensions and the reporting of illness.