History of hysteria: Ilza Veith’s legacy

The 1965 book Hysteria: History of a Disease, by the German American historian Ilza Veith, certainly represented milestone in historiography hysteria. Praised at first as an innovative work, unprecedented its comprehensiveness and scholarship, it became, over time, object multiple criticisms regarding omissions, psychoanalytic bias, teleological character approach. This article aims pondering these contrasting assessments discussing historical significance Veith’s work from contemporary perspective. To this end, brief overview studies on hysteria before Veith is outlined. followed descriptive critical presentation her discussion certain aspects reception and, conclusion, evaluation contribution legacy to research field.