图书作者与内容简介

This book is talking about the history of hysteria.Author used a lot of little stories to describe how doctors think of hysteria in different times.
As time passed, we rarely heard the word "hysteria" anymore. The concept of hysteria evolved and eventually disappeared because the elements of the condition were reclassified as PTSD.Although the term is no longer used, this book also gives us a sense of what doctors were thinking at the time.

我的观点

I got this book from my history teacher. He knew that I am interested in psychology, so he gave me this book which combined history and psychology. Although the title of the book was attractive. But in the beginning, I still thought  that this book would be really hard to read for me and boring to me because I have never tried any untranslated book before, but I was wrong.

There were so many real-life stories in this book.In the first chapter,the author used a story of a girl who was bullied by an old woman at night.When she went home she started to act like a person who is bewitched.That’s the first case of hysteria that was recorded. The author wrote the stories really vividly. It’s like I just watched every stories with my own eyes.Those stories  helped me a lot while I was reading it because it made me feel interested, not bored.The examples in the book also add to the authenticity of the entire book and helped me better understand the  history and interactions between doctors and patients.

This book dives deep into how people in the 19th century saw and treated hysteria, a symptom that is no longer considered as a disease by doctors anymore. It's an exciting journey through history that shows us how our knowledge of diseases can change over time, influenced by what we know and how our society thinks.
I think the most impressive part was that, there was a period of time that doctors believed that making women reach orgasm was the best way to cure hysteria.Therefore, the sexual toys also rose up at that time.
Some doctors even believed that patients were pretending to be sick to avoid some responsibilities.This shows a lack of understanding and sympathy for people with unexplained symptoms.
 
The book also mentioned why people of that time believed hysteria was associated with women. I can also think that such reasoning,while unscientific, can be understood as to why they thought this way.This could be linked to life nowadays.Prejudice against women still prevails among people in modern society.When we talk about sexual discrimination, I usually think about the working place or some rights that only men have.After I read this book, I suddenly realized that even female patients would be discriminate against too.
 
As time passed, opinions about hysteria started to change. Doctors and society began to study this condition more carefully. They realized that hysteria wasn't as simple as they first thought. This change came from the growth of knowledge and shifts in our culture. It reminds us that what we know about diseases can change with time and different beliefs, which is why we should always be open to learning and rethinking what we know.
 

When I was reading this book, I was quite astonished by the methods of treatment and diagnosis used during that time.I feel that this book not only guided  me to understand the history of hysteria but, more importantly, it allows me to realize how unscientific the methods we used to treat disease were in the past and how women were discriminated against.
 

It shows how biases and unfair judgments can shape our view of diseases and how that view can change as time goes on and our culture evolves. It also teaches us to respect everyone, especially those with unexplained symptoms, and not make fun of them or treat them unfairly. This book is exciting and teaches us a lot about history, medicine, and how our ideas change over time. I highly recommend it to any high school students interested in these topics.