Abstract
A number of recent studies on hysteria and conversion symptoms are reviewed. There is great confusion about the diagnosis of hysteria. The misuse and abuse of the term may give rise to diagnostic misunderstanding and lead, under certain circumstances, to therapeutic mismanagement. The results of follow-up studies indicated that about 60 per cent of patients originally diagnosed as hysteria had developed signs of physical disease. It appears that patients diagnosed as hysteria do not belong to a single disease entity but to a heterogeneous group with varying degrees of organic and other components. The terms "hysteria" and "hysterical" disappeared from DSM-Ⅲ (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed. ) published this year and were replaced by, and mainly divided into the following entities; somatization disorders, conversion disorders, psychogenic pain disorders and dissociative disorders.
