title: Medical men, women of letters, and treatments for eighteenth-century hysteria.
abstract: This paper explores evolving treatments for hysteria in the eighteenth century by examining a selection of works by both physician-writers and educated literary women. The treatments I identify--which range from aggressive bloodlettings, diets, and beatings, to exercise, fresh air, and writing cures--reveal a unique culture of therapy in which female sufferers and doctors exert an influence on one another's notions of what constitutes appropriate management of women's mental illness. A scrutiny of this exchange of ideas suggests that female patients were not simply oppressed and silenced by male practitioners; rather, their collective voice, intellect, and expertise helped to form progressive treatments for eighteenth-century hysteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of English, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada. Heather.Meek@uregina.ca
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meek
mesh_terms: D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000266:history*; D015709:Correspondence as Topic / Q000266:history*; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006663:Historiography; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007046:Hysteria / Q000266:history*; D008093:Literature, Modern; D008297:Male; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D026706:Paternalism; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000266:history*; D006113:United Kingdom