Table 2.

Studies on hysteria, conversion or dissociative disorders

Study	Sample	Method	Results and conclusion
Singh[19] A Clinical-psychological study of ‘Hysteria’	Fifty consecutive patients of both sexes were studied between the age ranges of 15-45 years	Detailed diagnostic Evaluation and assessment of personality by MPI.	- Hysterics comprise 8.3% of the clinic population.
			- Male female ratio:—11:39 (22%)
			- Most common symptoms were fainting attacks (25) convulsive fits (15) headache (15) abdominal pain (9) menstrual difficulties (7) and sinking sensation (6)
			- There are symptoms of dissociative reaction and conversion reaction (21:18) with some cases classed as mixed reaction and one case of hysterical psychosis.
			- Most frequent personality being the passive-aggressive and hysterical personality.
Bagadia et al.[20] Hysteria-A prospective study of demographic factors of 192 cases	192 diagnosed case of hysteria, out of 2926 attendees of OPD	Detailed psychiatric and physical evaluation	- Fifty six per cent of the cases belong to the age group of 16 to 25 years.
			- Occurrence of hysteria is significantly higher in females than males (78:22).
			- Occurrence was higher in unmarried males and married females.
			- Illness was more common in persons with lower education.
			- Unemployed males were significantly more (19%).
			- Occurrence was significantly high (26%) in those who were staying in Mumbai for less than one year.
Vyas et al.[21] A study of hysteria—an analysis of 304 patients		304 patients of hysteria were studied and they were analyzed under different demographic factors.	- High occurrence was seen in 16-25 years age group and the occurrence of hysteria was significantly high in females. More numbers of patients came from poor, low income families and from joint family system. There is a definite shift in the pattern of hysterical manifestations.
Subramanian et al.[22] A clinical study of 276 patients diagnosed as suffering from hysteria			- The peak age of onset was 10-20 years. The majority were married. 75% of them had conversion symptoms, 20.3% had dissociative states, and 4.7% had both features. 52.5% showed possible precipitating factors. 66.0% had features of extraversion in their personality make up. 14.1% showed evidence of parental deprivation. There was over-representation of the early born.
			- Somatic symptoms (aches and pains) were the most common mode of presentation. The other common clinical manifestations were fainting attacks, fits, vomiting, involuntary movements and paralysis of limbs. Only 93 patients could be contacted for the final follow-up. Among these, 28 recovered completely; 50 were improved; two became worse and two died.
Wig et al.[23] A follow up study of hysteria The present study undertook to examine the outcome of a group of cases who were diagnosed as hysteria, six or more years ago in a general hospital psychiatric unit and correlate various clinical factors with good or bad outcome	N = 57	Of the 81 cases selected for the study, 57 (67%) could be located and followed up after a gap of six to eight years	- Majority of the cases (74%) had either no symptoms or symptoms less than before at the time of the follow-up.
			- In only 3 cases, there was evidence of an underlying organic illness which seemed to have been missed at the initial assessment.
Bhargawa et al.[24] Study of illness behaviour in hysterical patients	N = 30	Patients diagnosed with conversion disorder and somatization disorder on DSM-IV were investigated using Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) and Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)	- The patients differed with the controls on all the 7 factors of illness dimensions. They scored higher on neuroticism and low on extroversion.
			- Understanding of the patterns of illness behavior can be utilized in the long term psychological management of the patients, where by tackling such factors as affective inhibition, denial of life problems, phobic concern about illness, etc, may facilitate better expression of emotional distress and amelioration of hysterical symptoms.
Deka et al.[25] A study of clinical correlates and socio-demographic profile on conversion disorders	N = 40 (inpatients) Subjects of both sexes of age >6 years fulfilling the diagnostic criteria for conversion disorders (ICD-10)	Patients were assessed for socio-demographic factors based on semi structured proforma	- Conversion disorder is more common in young adults (57.5%), females (92.5%), and among students belonging to nuclear families of lower socioeconomic status. Majority of the patients had obvious precipitating factors, of which family-related (40%) and school-related (30%) problem accounted for the major types motor symptoms were the predominant presentation (87.5%) with pseudo seizure being the commonest.