Historical diagnoses of 'hysteria'—from the wandering uterus to Victorian moralizing—have left enduring templates that allow clinicians and institutions to dismiss women’s somatic complaints as psychological. That legacy now interacts with contemporary neuroscience, diagnostic practice and medical training to produce measurable disparities in pain diagnosis, referral, and research investment.
— Naming and tracing hysteria’s institutional afterlives reframes current debates about women’s health inequities, medical training, and evidence standards, making them concrete targets for policy, medical education and research funding.
Emily Mendenhall
2026.01.08
100% relevant
The article cites Hippocrates’ uterine theory, the long history of non‑surgical treatments, and Thomas Willis’s later neurological mapping as the historical trail that still shapes modern mistrust and diagnostic shortcuts.
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