Am J Psychiatry 1979; 136:777-781
Copyright © 1979 by American Psychiatric Association
Hysterical psychosis and hypnotizability
D Spiegel and R Fink
The very existence of hysterical psychosis as a diagnostic entity has been
questioned as part of the general difficulty in defining both hysteria and
psychosis. However, several recent investigations have documented a
syndrome that usually involves brief and intense periods of psychotic
behavior, generally with graphic decompensation, severe environmental
stress, and rapid recompensation, in individuals with other hysterical
features. The authors assert that such a syndrome does exist as a clinical
entity and that the differential diagnosis can be facilitated by using a
standardized measure of hypnotic trance capacity. They hypothesize that
patients with hysterical psychosis are highly hypnotizable, while those who
are schizophrenic and psychotic have low hypnotizability. The authors
review the literature and present two case examples.
