Is that something she would recover from? -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Darrell A. Martin Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 9:51 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [VERMONT] PLYMOUTH 1/4/1889 On 3/27/2011 4:11 PM, Ruth Barton wrote: > The Vermont Tribune, Ludlow, Friday, January 4, 1889 > > PLYMOUTH 1/4/1889 > > Julia KAVANAH is not improving very fast. She was carried to the church, > Christmas eve, to see and enjoy the Christmas festival with the > Sabbath-school children. Julia was taken with what baffles the doctors; > she can neither use her hands nor feet--can't walk a step, nor feed > herself, but creeps about the house like a little child. Hi: For those who might be interested, this psychologically-induced condition is called "hysteria", "hysterical conversion", "conversion reaction", or "conversion disorder". The reason Julia's doctors were baffled is because there is no reasonable physical mechanism by which one can lose the use of hands and feet but not arms and legs. Darrell *************************************** List Guidelines: http://home.sprynet.com/~darrellm/list_rules.htm Visit the Gateway to Vermont Web Site: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vermont/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

On 3/27/2011 11:05 PM, Alice Gordon wrote: > Is that something she would recover from? Alice: Very possibly, if there were no permanent physical damage as a result of moving about on hands and knees. The condition is psychological in origin, there is actually nothing wrong with the body. Freud, who was developing his psychoanalytical practice in Vienna at the time, would have used a "talking cure"; Charcot would have used hypnosis; but the best hope might have been that the condition would go away spontaneously. Darrell