The hysterical personality--I. The healthy hysteric

This paper examines the meaning and validity of 'hysterical personality disorders'. Theories and descriptions of hysterical personalities have been conflicting and often mutually incompatible, leading to a vague and imprecise nosology. No generally accepted specific inclusion criteria or follow-up studies are available; consequently, the diagnosis of 'hysterical personality disorder' has reflected adaptive as well as maladaptive traits. This paper critically examines the healthy dimension of Lazare's continuum of personality pathologies exhibiting hysterical traits. The continuum, in an attempt to reconcile the inconsistencies of this diagnosis, ranges from the relatively healthy (good, genital, true) hysteric, to the sick (bad, oral, 'so-called good') hysteric. But this paper concludes that here, too, evidence for diagnostic legitimacy is lacking. Women at the healthy end of the hysterical personality spectrum are best regarded as healthy and do not meet criteria for the diagnosis of a personality disorder.