And the definitely nonhysterical but still infamous Dr. Nanjo wrote in
response to another post:
>I would speculate that Blanche in "Streetcar" is a pretty good
fictional
>representation of a person with histrionic personality disorder, and
perhaps
>a co-existing depression or bipolar illness.
As much as I would wish to deny it, I am still given to the occasional bout
of hysteria. But I am much less prone to that as a 42 year old then, let's
say, as a 22 year old.
Ricker quoting Showwalter:
"hysteria has now become the wastebasket category of
literary criticism, into which any excitable heroine from Jane Eyre to
Blanche DuBois [yes...Blanche DuBois!] can be tossed..."
Now it had never occurred to me to classify Jane Eyre as a person with
hysterical personality disorder. I think we can try to discriminate between
those who tend to classify women as hysterics as a matter of policy, and
those of us who try to make accurate judgements about these matters.
BTW, I am 75% of the way to not believing in any of the personality
disorders. A la Szasz I am coming to suspect that these are assorted labels
that we can use to give mental health diagnoses to folks who we experience
just plain obnoxious (or untrustworthy, in the case of antisocial PD) in the
social and interpersonal realm.
My best wishes to all for a great weekend.
Nancy Melucci
ELAC
