Hysteria II: The Women of Dr. Charcot’s Hospital – French History

Warning: This episode includes hospital scenes that may be disturbing for some listeners.

Who were the women diagnosed with hysteria in Dr. Charcot’s 19th-century hospital in Paris? Find out, as we focus in particular on two patients: Blanche, the “Queen of Hysterics”, and Genevieve, the Saint-Hysteric.

And be sure to review us so you can get your picture drawn in the historical time period and culture of your choosing!

Become our patron on Patreon at www.patreon.com/deadideaspod

Co-hosts: Nick and Anna

Time/place: France, 1893 CE

Dead idea: Hysteria

Images Described in the Episode:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Main Sources

Aretaeus. (1972/1856). The Extant Works of Aretaeus, the Cappadocian. Adams, F. LL.D., Ed. Boston: Milford House. Downloaded Nov. 30, 2016, from: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0254%3Atext%3DSA%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D11

Cordon, L. (2012). Freud’s World: An Encyclopedia of His Life and Times. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood.

Hustvedt, A. (2011). Medical Muses: Hysteria in Nineteenth-Century Paris. New York. W. W. Norton & Co.

Kahun Medical Papyrus. (2002). Quirke, S., Trans. University College London. Downloaded Nov. 30, 2016, from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/med/birthpapyrus.html

Maines, R. (1999). The Technology of Orgasm. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Van Driel, M. (2012). With the Hand: A Cultural History of Masturbation. Vincent, P., Trans. London: Reaktion Books.

Maps, pics, references, and more at http://www.deadideas.net. Music and graphic design by Rachel Westhoff.

Leave a Reply