Biomaterial Database

Hysterical seizures: a sequel to incest. 1979

Jean Goodwin, and Mary Simms, and Robert Bergman

Department of Psychiatry.

Six cases are described in which hysterical seizures developed after incest and disappeared after psychotherapeutic exploration of the incestuous experience. Patients were adolescents referred for seizures, suicide attempts, sexual problems, and running away. It is suggested that Navajo and Galenic folk beliefs connecting epilepsy with incest may derive from observations of this symptom pattern in incest victims.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007046	Hysteria	Historical term for a chronic, but fluctuating, disorder beginning in early life and characterized by recurrent and multiple somatic complaints not apparently due to physical illness. This diagnosis is not used in contemporary practice.	Hysterical Neuroses,Neuroses, Hysterical
D007179	Incest	Sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry.
D011613	Psychotherapy	A generic term for the treatment of mental illness or emotional disturbances primarily by verbal or nonverbal communication.	Psychotherapies
D011902	Rape	Sexual intercourse without consent of the victim.
D003291	Conversion Disorder	A disorder whose predominant feature is a loss or alteration in physical functioning that suggests a physical disorder but that is actually a direct expression of a psychological conflict or need.	Astasia-Abasia,Conversion Neurosis,Functional Movement Disorder,Functional Neurological Disorder,Hysteria, Conversion,Conversion Reaction,Astasia Abasia,Conversion Disorders,Conversion Hysteria,Conversion Neuroses,Disorder, Functional Movement,Disorder, Functional Neurological,Functional Movement Disorders,Functional Neurological Disorders,Movement Disorder, Functional,Movement Disorders, Functional,Neurological Disorder, Functional,Neurological Disorders, Functional,Neuroses, Conversion,Neurosis, Conversion
D004827	Epilepsy	A disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of paroxysmal brain dysfunction due to a sudden, disorderly, and excessive neuronal discharge. Epilepsy classification systems are generally based upon: (1) clinical features of the seizure episodes (e.g., motor seizure), (2) etiology (e.g., post-traumatic), (3) anatomic site of seizure origin (e.g., frontal lobe seizure), (4) tendency to spread to other structures in the brain, and (5) temporal patterns (e.g., nocturnal epilepsy). (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p313)	Aura,Awakening Epilepsy,Seizure Disorder,Epilepsy, Cryptogenic,Auras,Cryptogenic Epilepsies,Cryptogenic Epilepsy,Epilepsies,Epilepsies, Cryptogenic,Epilepsy, Awakening,Seizure Disorders
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths