The word “hysteria” inherently evokes misogyny. Deriving from the Greek word for “uterus,” it was used in ancient Greece as a diagnostic label for women with symptoms ranging from dizziness to paralysis and menstrual pain—all of which were attributed to a “wandering womb.” Throughout history, the label was given to women who were perceived as unreasonably ambitious, attention-seeking, neurotic, or sexually dissatisfied. In Freudian times, it eventually evolved to refer to a mental disorder thought to primarily affect women, causing physical manifestations.
In an age of medical advancement and greater attention to gender equity, most of us would consider this gendered catch-all diagnosis for unexplained ailments to be unthinkable. But chronically ill people of marginalized gender identities, and just about anyone with a chronic health condition that disproportionately affects women, can attest that modern medicine hasn’t progressed as far beyond the hysteria diagnosis as one might expect.
I’ve crossed paths with countless people whose disabling physical symptoms were initially attributed to a variety of psychological explanations— from anxiety to repressed trauma. Many were given diagnostic labels that were essentially equivalent to hysteria by a different name, before years later receiving correct diagnoses of chronic illnesses that disproportionately affect women, like endometriosis or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).
I, myself, can vividly recall sitting in a doctor’s office exam room at 14 years old, desperately hoping that this visit would be the one to finally provide an explanation for my severe abdominal pain that had suddenly begun months prior and never dissipated. Instead, the gastroenterologist declined to order any tests, impatiently telling my mother that anxiety is common in teenage girls and recommending psychiatric medication.
As my health declined further in early adulthood, I learned that chronic illnesses like myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), a neuroimmune disease that mostly impacts women, have been especially plagued by these stigmas, and people with ME are still forcibly institutionalized in psychiatric facilities around the world. As the COVID-19 pandemic has brought similar infection-triggered chronic illness experiences into mainstream public discourse, it’s been disturbing to witness some healthcare professionals speculate that Long COVID is a form of “mass hysteria,” despite an abundance of scientific evidence to the contrary.
