Hysteria

Hysteria has disappeared from contemporary culture only insofar as it has been subjected to a repression through the popular diagnosis of 'borderline personality disorder'.In Hysteria the distinguished psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas offers an original and illuminating theory of hysteria that weaves its well-known features - repressed sexual ideas; indifference to conversion; over-identification with the other - into the hysteric form.Through a rereading of Freud, Bollas argues that sexuality in itself is traumatic to all children, as it 'destroys' the relation to the mother, transfiguring her from 'mamma', the infant's caregiver, to 'mother', the child's and father's sex object. For the hysteric this recognition is endlessly traumatic and the hysterical personality forms itself into an organised opposition to this knowledge.True to his earlier writings, Bollas' vision is thought provoking and mind expanding. Hysteria brings new perspectives to long-standing ideas, making enlightening reading for students and professionals involved in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy alike, as well as the lay reader who takes an interest in the formation of personality in western culture. In Hysteria the distinguished psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas offers an original and illuminating theory of hysteria that weaves its well-known features -- repressed sexual ideas; indifference to conversion; over-identification with the other -- into the hysteric form.Through a re-reading of Freud, Bollas argues that sexuality in itself is traumatic to all children, as it "destroys" the relation to the mother, transfiguring her from "mamma", the infant's caregiver, to "mother", the child's and father's sex object. For the hysteric this recognition is endlessly traumatic and the hysterical personality forms itself into an organized opposition to this knowledge.True to his earlier writings, Bollas' vision is thought provoking and mind expanding. Hysteria brings new perspectives to long-standing ideas, making enlightening reading for students and professionals involved in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy alike, as a well as the lay reader who takes an interest in the formation of personality in western culture. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Introduction......Page 8 The characters of psychoanalysis......Page 11 Sexual epiphany......Page 20 Sexuality and its transformations......Page 34 In the beginning is the mother......Page 48 Erotising absence......Page 68 Functions of the father......Page 78 The seduction of the story......Page 94 Hot and cold......Page 105 Showing off......Page 114 Self as theatre......Page 124 The malignant hysteric......Page 134 Transference addicts......Page 153 Seduction and the therapist......Page 159 The last chapter......Page 169 References......Page 187 Index......Page 190 Psychoanalytical case studies are for the most part discussions of human character and was we enter the new millennium the professional journals contain thousands of individuals described as suffering from one character disorder or another. Bollas offers an original and illuminating theory of hysteria that weaves its well-known features - repressed sexual ideas; indifference to conversions; over-identification with the other - into the hysteric form.