Sensation--There is very markedly diminished reaction to pin prick all over
the right side, including face, arm, chest, leg and tongue. In some places
complete analgesia obtains. Reaction to touch is likewise diminished and
recognition of heat and cold is impaired.
Speech--There is complete loss of the ability to make any sound, either
voiced or whispered; that is to say, there is complete aphonia,-- there is
loss of all voice. The patient understands everything, however, and writes
her answers to questions rapidly and correctly. She can read whatever is
written, there is no difficulty in the recognition of objects, no evidence
of any aphasia whatever.
The diagnosis--hysteria--can hardly be doubted. The history of headaches,
fainting spells without marked impairment of consciousness, vomiting spells,
hemianaesthesia, hemianalgesia, complete aphonia and an exaggerated
paralysis, not only of the right leg, but of the ability to thrust out the
tongue, while at the same time all other cranial functions were unimpaired
together with the apparent health of the individual in every other respect,
make up a syndrome hardly to pass unrecognized.
Treatment--The patient was entirely inaccessible to direct suggestion, for
no amount of assurance that her leg was all right enabled her to move it.
When such suggestions were made, she shook her head firmly and conclusively,
and this is true of suggestions concerning speech. This point is of
importance in the consideration of the mechanism. Attempts at hypnotism
failed ingloriously. Psychoanalysis was deferred for the time, and recourse
was had to indirect suggestion and re-education.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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