An essay on the Charcot and Richer hysteria: from charcoal drawings to cell phones

Caeira, Marlon Wycliff; Coutinho, Leo; Nascimento, Igor Abrahim; Paola, Luciano de; Teive, Hélio Afonso Ghizoni

doi:10.1055/s-0044-1789229

home Sumário navigate_before Anterior Atual Seguinte navigate_next

Resumo (Inglês)
Resumo (Português)

Texto (Inglês)

Download PDF (Inglês)

Resumo (Inglês)
Resumo (Português)
Texto (Inglês)
Download PDF (Inglês)

Whatsapp
BlueSky
Mastodon
Facebook
Mais

home Sumário

Facebook
X
Google+
LinkedIn
Reddit
StambleUpon
CiteULike
Mendeley

Resumo (Inglês)
Resumo (Português)

Texto (Inglês)

Download PDF (Inglês)

Historical Notes • Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr. 82 (9) • 2024 • https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0044-1789229 linkcopy

An essay on the Charcot and Richer hysteria: from charcoal drawings to cell phones

Um ensaio sobre a histeria de Charcot e Richer: de desenhos em carvão aos telefones celulares

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Hysteria, previously also known as the disease of the womb, has moved from being a woman's illness through the medieval times' stigma of demonic possession, to the modern concept of a functional neurological disorder. Interestingly to the present assay, Charcot (1825–1893) and Richer (1849–1933) described, in their 1887 work Les Démoniaques dans l'art, by means of iconography, semiological aspects of the so-called Grande Attaque Hystérique, which resembles features of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures emulating grand mal epileptic seizures. The aim of the present assay is to describe how those charcoal iconographic representations evolved through history and are nowadays portrayed in videos recorded at epilepsy monitoring units and patients' cell phones.

Keywords
Hysteria; Conversion Disorder; Dissociative Disorders; Epilepsy; Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic

Authorship

person Marlon Wycliff Caeira

conceptualization · data curation · video editing · writing – original manuscript

schoolUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Epilepsia, Curitiba PR, Brazil.Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazilCuritiba, PR, BrazilUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Epilepsia, Curitiba PR, Brazil.

0000-0001-9094-4141

person Leo Coutinho

conceptualization · data curation · writing – critique and review of original manuscript

0000-0003-4921-2939

person Igor Abrahim Nascimento

video editing and review of original draft

0009-0009-9381-1286

person Luciano de Paola

conceptualization · resources · video editing · writing – review of final manuscript

0000-0002-0512-610X

person Hélio Afonso Ghizoni Teive

conceptualization · resources · writing – critique and review of final manuscript

schoolUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Distúrbios do Movimento, Curitiba PR, Brazil.Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazilCuritiba, PR, BrazilUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Distúrbios do Movimento, Curitiba PR, Brazil.schoolUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Interna, Curitiba PR, Brazil.Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazilCuritiba, PR, BrazilUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Interna, Curitiba PR, Brazil.

0000-0003-2305-1073

personAddress for correspondence Hélio Afonso Ghizoni Teive (email:
hagteive@mps.com.br)

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Editor-in-Chief

Ayrton Massaro.

Associate Editor

Ylmar Correa-Neto.

SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Universidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Epilepsia, Curitiba PR, Brazil.Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazilCuritiba, PR, BrazilUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Epilepsia, Curitiba PR, Brazil.

Universidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Distúrbios do Movimento, Curitiba PR, Brazil.Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazilCuritiba, PR, BrazilUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Serviço de Distúrbios do Movimento, Curitiba PR, Brazil.

Universidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Interna, Curitiba PR, Brazil.Universidade Federal do ParanáBrazilCuritiba, PR, BrazilUniversidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Medicina Interna, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Medicina Interna, Curitiba PR, Brazil.

Figures

Figures (2)

Thumbnail

Figure 1 (A) Période épileptoide of the hysterical attack from Les Démoniaques dans l'art.⁸ (B) Similar semiological features are present in a patient in our practice diagnosed with psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (PNES), who shows both upper limbs in extension, crossed legs, tilted head, and closed eyes and fists, along with unresponsiveness during the functional seizure. (C) Période de clownisme and grands mouvements in a male patient in the Richer drawing depicted with opisthotonus − the arc de cercle (D) and in a patient of ours diagnosed with PNES. (E) L'attitude passionnelle, the contemplative attitude found in Les Extatiques (F) and the same facial expression in a patient of ours with the diagnosis of PNES after vEEG. (G) Période épileptoide, phase de résolution − after the seizure-like phenomena of the Période épileptoide, follows the resolution phase of the hysteric attack as depicted by Richer. (H) A similar asthenic expression was also observed in one of our patients following a functional seizure. The patients' eyes were blacked out to preserve their identities for ethical purposes.

Thumbnail

Figure 2 (A) Grands mouvements. Pelvic thrusting movements and sustained elevation of the legs present in the clownism phase of the grande attaque hystérique as depicted in Les Démoniaques dans l'arts.⁸ On the frames of the upper panel, a young male patient presents alternating movements of the lower limbs and trunk over the hips, both arms were crossed in a posture unfit for an epileptic seizure. The movements could be stopped and be induced by the touch of the technician. (B) In the lower panel, one can see the generalized contractures in the période terminale of the attack as depicted by Charcot and Richer, and examples of generalized contractures and bizarre postures at the end of a functional seizure. Both patients tend to opisthotonus, with the patient on the left lying down with both eyes open and a similar dystonic posture of the hand as shown in the drawing, while the patient at the botton right of the figure presents with hand drop, eyes closed and an asymmetrical contracture of head and neck muscles with jaw deviation to the left. The patients' eyes were blacked out to preserve their identities for ethical purposes.

imageFigure 1 (A) Période épileptoide of the hysterical attack from Les Démoniaques dans l'art.⁸ (B) Similar semiological features are present in a patient in our practice diagnosed with psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (PNES), who shows both upper limbs in extension, crossed legs, tilted head, and closed eyes and fists, along with unresponsiveness during the functional seizure. (C) Période de clownisme and grands mouvements in a male patient in the Richer drawing depicted with opisthotonus − the arc de cercle (D) and in a patient of ours diagnosed with PNES. (E) L'attitude passionnelle, the contemplative attitude found in Les Extatiques (F) and the same facial expression in a patient of ours with the diagnosis of PNES after vEEG. (G) Période épileptoide, phase de résolution − after the seizure-like phenomena of the Période épileptoide, follows the resolution phase of the hysteric attack as depicted by Richer. (H) A similar asthenic expression was also observed in one of our patients following a functional seizure. The patients' eyes were blacked out to preserve their identities for ethical purposes. open_in_new

imageFigure 2 (A) Grands mouvements. Pelvic thrusting movements and sustained elevation of the legs present in the clownism phase of the grande attaque hystérique as depicted in Les Démoniaques dans l'arts.⁸ On the frames of the upper panel, a young male patient presents alternating movements of the lower limbs and trunk over the hips, both arms were crossed in a posture unfit for an epileptic seizure. The movements could be stopped and be induced by the touch of the technician. (B) In the lower panel, one can see the generalized contractures in the période terminale of the attack as depicted by Charcot and Richer, and examples of generalized contractures and bizarre postures at the end of a functional seizure. Both patients tend to opisthotonus, with the patient on the left lying down with both eyes open and a similar dystonic posture of the hand as shown in the drawing, while the patient at the botton right of the figure presents with hand drop, eyes closed and an asymmetrical contracture of head and neck muscles with jaw deviation to the left. The patients' eyes were blacked out to preserve their identities for ethical purposes. open_in_new

How to cite

linkcopy

vertical_align_top show_chart

more_horiz close
- image
- translate
- link
- article
- vertical_align_top
- file_download
- show_chart
- image
- translate
- link
- article

location_on

Academia Brasileira de Neurologia - ABNEURO R. Vergueiro, 1353 sl.1404 - Ed. Top Towers Offices Torre Norte, 04101-000 São Paulo SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 11 5084-9463 | +55 11 5083-3876 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revista.arquivos@abneuro.org

rss_feed Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

Versão para download de PDF

PDF

Inglês

Versões e tradução automática

Versão original do texto

English

Tradução automática

Google Translator
Microsoft Translator

Como citar

RIS

BIBTEX

Outros formatos de citação e exportação: