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Common “Knowledge” of Victorian Medical Professionals


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Laycock details “cerebral hysteria” and “moral insanity” in women and claims many, if not all, of women’s ailments arise from the reproductive system. He says indecisiveness, regular reading and writing, and high productivity are signs and symptoms of moral insanity in women. Laycock mentions female patients are often not truthful about their symptoms. Only one brief mention of hallucinations is given as a means of diagnosing cerebral hysteria or insanity with the rest of the signs being personality shifts apparently uncharacteristic for women. He argues an effective treatment for these mental conditions is electro-galvanism, a form of electric shock therapy, to the pelvic area. The author considers other organs highly dependent on the healthy function of the female reproductive system. So, he says shocking the lower abdominal area treats moral insanity in women. However, this “perversion of character” is not entirely curable. Women may continue to exhibit a so-called hysterical personality even after the shock treatment path by demonstrating an eccentric desire to complete many different tasks at once.

Featured in Exhibit


Mental Health Treatment in the Victorian Era

Date


circa. 1872

Artist


Edgar Degas


Copyright
©

Vetted?
No
Submitted by Erin Bendy on Fri, 11/20/2020 - 11:44

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