Cure for Female Hysteria

lil_michelle's Avatar
Okay so I was googling some abbreviations because I don't know most of what people are saying here and ran into this article... I had to share it!!!

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In the Western medical tradition genital massage of a woman to orgasm by a physician or midwife was a standard treatment for female hysteria, an ailment considered common and chronic in women. In 1653, Pieter van Foreest [1] advised the technique of genital massage for a disease called "womb disease" to bring the woman into "hysterical paroxysm".
Such cases were quite profitable for physicians, since the patients were at no risk of death, but needed constant treatment. However, the vaginal massage procedure (generally referred to as 'pelvic massage') was tedious and time consuming for physicians. The technique was difficult for a physician to master and could take hours to achieve "hysterical paroxysm." Referral to midwives, which had been common practice, meant a loss of business for the physician, and at times husbands were asked to assist.[2]
[edit] Development of vibrator

A solution was the invention of massage devices, which shortened treatment from hours to minutes, removing the need for midwives and increasing a physician’s treatment capacity. Already at the turn of the century, hydrotherapy devices were available at Bath, and by the mid-19th century, they were popular at many high-profile bathing resorts across Europe and in America.[citation needed] By 1870, a clockwork-driven vibrator was available for physicians. In 1873, the first electromechanical vibrator was used at an asylum in France for the treatment of hysteria.
While physicians of the period acknowledged that the disorder stemmed from sexual dissatisfaction, they seemed unaware of or unwilling to admit the sexual purposes of the devices used to treat it.[citation needed] In fact, the introduction of the speculum was far more controversial than that of the vibrator.
By the turn of the century, the spread of home electricity brought the vibrator to the consumer market. The appeal of cheaper treatment in the privacy of one’s own home understandably made the vibrator a popular early home appliance. In fact, the electric home vibrator was on the market before many other home appliance ’essentials’: nine years before the electric vacuum cleaner and 10 years before the electric iron. A page from a Sears catalog of home electrical appliances from 1918 includes a portable vibrator with attachments, billed as ”Very useful and satisfactory for home service.”[2]



SOOO.... any females need some therapy for hysteria???
Yes, it was believed that the Uterus was the cause of female hysteria, and hence, it's removal became known as a "hysterectomy".
lil_michelle's Avatar
Yes, it was believed that the Uterus was the cause of female hysteria, and hence, it's removal became known as a "hysterectomy". Originally Posted by Garland_Bone

OMG.. I learn so much from this site!
The word hysterical derives from the Latin word: hystericus, meaning "of the womb".

The Latin word was derived from the Greek word: hysterikos, meaning "of the womb, suffering in the womb"

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hysterical
lil_michelle's Avatar
Thanks guys... I never thought I would actually learn history from this site but hey.. I will take all the free education I can get! lol
You should see of the "medical devices" from that period. Early versions of a Sybian.
You mean the thing in my mom's closet was not for relaxing sore back mussles????
Lana Warren's Avatar
You mean the thing in my mom's closet was not for relaxing sore back mussles???? Originally Posted by Bubba3452
You should have seen the look on my brother's face when us adult kids were cleaning out Mom's closet after she died! He came across her, "best friend"! Needless to say, he went to the nearest bar to have a few beers! LOL!
mmcqtx's Avatar
Have you seen The Road to Wellville? Fits in with this tpoic.
pyramider's Avatar
Nothing that pills, electro shock, and a lobotomy can't cure.
Iaintliein's Avatar
The really sad thing is how entrenched this sort of "group think" becomes in medicine or any other highly regulated profession. If you have any sort of medical issue and don't seriously educate yourself before seeing a doctor, you're likely going to get whatever the last (or best looking) pharmaceutical rep is pushing without much hesitation.

It's amazing that a typical wife will bully the hubby to take statins (lots and lots of side effects) but won't cooperate when it comes to the absolute best preventative medicine. . . sex, study after study shows it's better than any other drug, diet or lifestyle change to promote heart health.
fireguydfw's Avatar
Iaintliein - youainkiddin! Not only heart health but the number 2 problem facing men is prostate enlargement which is largely caused by lack of use...and may or may not contribute to prostate cancer (no concrete data for sure - genetics is probably the key factor. This is according to Dr. OZ and a number of other urology research studies conducted in the US and abroad).
Anecdotal evidence shows that in cultures where men enjoy two or more sexual encounters per week, they have much lower incidence of BPH (no drugs, no ED, no Viagra...). Dr. Oz suggests that we should be having a 200 orgasms per year! That's almost 4 per week in my math book.

No wonder Dorothy was looking for Oz! Maybe she didn't need to go home - she needed to find the "Oh!"