TruthSeeker12345
Sex Educator
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2024
- Posts
- 98
I thought it would be interesting to write a story about a psychiatrist that treated a woman for what was called, in the early 1900s, "hysteria". It could be set in Vienna, Austria. According to an article about "curing" "hysteria", "Genital Stimulation As A Treatment For “Hysteria” In Women", in the Psychologyzine website:
"In particular, Freud’s concept of “hysteria,” a condition he believed was rooted in sexual repression, often involved the idea that women suffered from psychological issues due to unsatisfied sexual desires. Although Freud didn’t prescribe masturbation as a treatment for women, his theories contributed to discussions around sexuality and mental health. During Freud’s time, some doctors did use genital stimulation as a treatment for “hysteria” in women, but this was not directly tied to Freud’s psychoanalytic methods. By the Victorian era, physicians commonly believed that relieving a woman’s sexual tension through genital stimulation could alleviate symptoms of hysteria. During this period, the treatment became widespread, but no single doctor is credited with its creation. Rather, it emerged out of the medical consensus of the time. Physicians of the 19th century did not necessarily see the practice as sexual; rather, it was viewed as a legitimate medical intervention for what they saw as a physical condition. It was only in hindsight, as modern understandings of female sexuality and mental health developed, that this practice was seen as misguided and invasive."
This would be like a historical fiction story, and the fictitious psychiatrist would refer to Freud's theory and use one of the vibrators (an article from the BBC, "The vibrator: from medical tool to revolutionary sex toy", shows one from 1909) to "cure" a woman of "hysteria". This story would not portray the woman in a negative way, rather it would emphasize the misinformation that was being conveyed about female orgasms in the early 1900s.
"In particular, Freud’s concept of “hysteria,” a condition he believed was rooted in sexual repression, often involved the idea that women suffered from psychological issues due to unsatisfied sexual desires. Although Freud didn’t prescribe masturbation as a treatment for women, his theories contributed to discussions around sexuality and mental health. During Freud’s time, some doctors did use genital stimulation as a treatment for “hysteria” in women, but this was not directly tied to Freud’s psychoanalytic methods. By the Victorian era, physicians commonly believed that relieving a woman’s sexual tension through genital stimulation could alleviate symptoms of hysteria. During this period, the treatment became widespread, but no single doctor is credited with its creation. Rather, it emerged out of the medical consensus of the time. Physicians of the 19th century did not necessarily see the practice as sexual; rather, it was viewed as a legitimate medical intervention for what they saw as a physical condition. It was only in hindsight, as modern understandings of female sexuality and mental health developed, that this practice was seen as misguided and invasive."
This would be like a historical fiction story, and the fictitious psychiatrist would refer to Freud's theory and use one of the vibrators (an article from the BBC, "The vibrator: from medical tool to revolutionary sex toy", shows one from 1909) to "cure" a woman of "hysteria". This story would not portray the woman in a negative way, rather it would emphasize the misinformation that was being conveyed about female orgasms in the early 1900s.
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