Hysteria is also known as unmanageable emotional excesses (Scientific), Unmad (Marathi/Hindi/Urdu), Narampu talarcci (Tamil), Yizheng (Chinese), histerismo (Spanish), histeria (Portuguese), Histiriya (Bengali), isteriya (Russian).
What is Hysteria?
Hysteria is a mental and nervous disorder arising from intense anxiety. It is characterized by a lack of control over acts and emotions and by sudden conclusive seizures and emotional outbursts. It often results from repressed mental conflict. This disorder appears in both sexes, but is far more common in young women of the age group between 14 and 25 years because of their natural sensitivity. In many cases it tends to occur around the period of adolescence and becomes less frequent after the age of 25. It is uncommon after the age of forty-five years. In short hysteria is a disorder chiefly of young women, in which emotional states control the body, leading to perversion of mental, sensory, motor and secretory functions.
Effective Home Treatment to cure Hysteria
Hysteria is curable in nearly all cases. Since the causes of hysteria are both physical and mental, treatment should be directed toward both the body and the mind. Regard for one’s physical welfare is of primary importance. A healthy, well-functioning body is best able to keep the reasoning mind in control of the total organism. On the mental plane, the patient should be taught self-control and educated in positive thinking.
- Unconsciousness caused by hysteria can be cured by making the patient smell onion or by rubbing his feet with crushed onion. Also putting few drops of onion juice into nostrils is helpful for hysteria.
- Constipation, indigestion and flatulence should be prevented. Almond oil is very good for the patient of hysteria. One teaspoonful should be mixed with hot milk and given daily to the patient at bed time. This is helpful actually for constipation.
- Eating dates for several months is helpful for female hysteria.
- Drinking orange flower extract is helpful to cure hysteria. Readymade orange blossom oil also claims that it is useful for hysteria.
- Bramhi for Mental Fatigue: Boil a cup of water and add a few fresh brahmi leaves to it. Steep for ten minutes, strain the tea and drink it three times daily. You can also eat brahmi leaves with salads or add them to your soup. Brahmi has great blood cleansing properties and removes mental as well as physical fatigue.
- It is belief that 10 years old ghee (clarified butter) is cures hysteria. Please consult your doctor for dose and how to use it.
- Reduce Intensity with Jambul: Syzygium cumini (jambul) fruit is very effective to reduce intensity of hysteria. In a big container put approximately 3 kg. of jambul in it. Add handful of salt and water. Put it under the sunlight for a week. Eat everyday some jambul and drink the same water early in the morning with empty stomach. Continue remedy for at least 2 weeks.
- Take 40gms of methi-pak everyday morning, this is very effective remedy for hysteria but little hard to make. This methi-pak is different than ordinary sweet methi-pak. Here is the quick recipe for it. Take 300gms of fenugreek seeds and dry ginger. Both is powdered form. Add these powders to 500 ml milk, bring it to boil. Boil more till it becomes little syrup. Add 3000 gms of sugar in it. Boil on slow flame till it becomes sugary syrup. Switch off the flame. Grind together following ingredients in a fine powder – 60gm of black pepper and 40gms of each chitrak (Plumbago zeylanica), pimpari, sunth (dried ginger), ganthoda (Valeriana wallichii), owa (bishop’s weed, carom seeds, or thymol seeds), dhane (coriander seeds), jire (cumin seeds), kalonji-jire (black cumin seeds), badishep (fennel seed), jaiphal (nutmeg), shatak powder, dalchini (cinnamon), tamalpatra (Cinnamomum tamala / Indian bay leaf), nagarmotha (cypriol / Cyperus scariosus). Mix this powder to sugary syrup and store in glass bottle.
- Honey is also effective. Take 1 tablespoon of honey everyday.
- Boil a cup of water and add four or five tulsi leaves to it. Continue boiling on a low heat for half a minute then strain the tea and drink it three times daily.
- Bottle gourd to eliminate all excesses of emotion: Take green gourd (bottle gourd). Cut it into half. Take out peel and seed. Apply the leftover fresh soft paste on head. This is external but helpful remedy. OR Drink one glass of bottle gourd juice every morning on an empty stomach. Bottle gourd has a cooling and calming effect on the brain and enables the mind to stay clear and focused thus eliminating all excesses of emotion.
- Mix 1 cup lettuce juice and 1 tablespoon amla juice and drink everyday morning for 1 month.
- Rauvolfia serpentina (Indian snakeroot / sarpagandha) is very helpful for hysteria. Its an Indian medicinal herb. Dry and grind sarpagandha roots. In one cup of milk add 1 gm. of this powder. Drink twice a day.
- Eat asafetida. Start with a pinch of asafetida everyday, increase the quantity day by day till it becomes 1 tablespoon.
Symptoms and Causes of Hysteria
A wide range of symptoms are regarded as hysterical The onset of hysterical attacks may be sudden, provoked especially by strong feelings or may be heralded over a period of several hours by prodromal features. The main symptoms include inappropriate elation or sadness, crying without cause, almost conclusive laughter, deep sighing, cramps in the limbs, mild rumblings in the belly and sense of constriction in the throat. The most common causes of hysteria are sexual excess, perverted habits of thought and idleness. Heredity plays an important part in its causation. A nervous family, taint and faulty emotional training, when young, are predisposing causes. The emotional shocks may have been caused by mental or physical factors such as mental strain, stress, fear, worry, depression, traumatism, masturbation and prolonged sickness. Hysteria is an extremely mental phenomenon which may take varying forms. In certain types the disorder may result from some situation to which one is unable to adapt oneself such as marriage, engagement, position of responsibility, the death of relations or loss of love. Factors involving the sexual life in some way are frequently present. Drug intoxication is another organic brain disease closely associated with hysteria.