Female hysteria was a common medical diagnosis assigned specifically to women to describe a set of symptoms including dizziness, nervousness, insomnia, loss of appetite, and a wide range of others. The diagnosis was common and commonly discussed in the 19th century, although it was accepted as a real and serious illness for hundreds of years before that. Female hysteria is no longer accepted by the medical community as a correct or reasonable diagnosis. "Hysteria" was often used as a blanket diagnosis reflecting a lack of understanding of the diversity and complexity of psychological conditions, and increased understanding has led to more accurate diagnoses.
There was no single, precise list of symptoms by which medical professionals could classify cases of female hysteria. In many cases, any combination of ill-defined symptoms or even behavioral patterns that differ from social expectations could be labeled female hysteria. In some cases, "affected" women were urged to seek treatment for aberrant behavior from the men in their lives, such as fathers, husbands, or others, regardless of whether the women experienced any discomfort or believed themselves to be ill in some way. The nature of the diagnosis of female hysteria generally reflected the nature of gender relations at least as much as it reflected the insufficiency of knowledge in the area of psychological diagnosis.
Common treatments for female hysteria also reflect the gender relations of the times when the "condition" was prevalent. Physicians would administer "pelvic massage," or manual stimulation of the female genitalia, until the "affected" individual reached a state of "hysterical paroxysm," now understood to mean an orgasm. In general, it was not considered possible to cure hysteria, so an "afflicted" woman would need to seek this form of treatment on a regular basis. A variety of devices have been invented to make this treatment process more efficient and more comfortable for both the patient and the individual administering the treatment.
Cases of female hysteria decreased substantially in the early 20th century. The increased knowledge and acceptance of psychology led to a better understanding of the nature of the disorder. Physicians and psychologists came to understand a broader range of more specific psychological disorders that took the place of a broad diagnosis of hysteria. Freudian psychoanalysis provided another approach to treatment and tried to show that many cases of female hysteria were actually neuroses based on some form of anxiety or a past traumatic event in the affected person's life.