This is an investigation of the history of hysteria which argues for its resuscitation in understanding the human condition. The author uses her clinical experience, classic case histories and Freud's own self-analysis to show how male hysteria came to be written out of psychoanalysis.

This worthy successor to Juliet Mitchell's pathbreaking Psychoanalysis and Feminism is both a defense of the long-dismissed diagnosis of hysteria as a centerpiece of the human condition and a plea for a new understanding of the influence of sibling and peer relationships.In Mad Men and Medusas Mitchell traces the history of hysteria, arguing that we need to reclaim hysteria to understand how distress and trauma express themselves in different societies and different times. Mitchell convincingly demonstrates that although hysteria may have disappeared as a disease, it is still a critical factor in understanding psychological development through the life cycle.