| epidemic hysteria | Spontaneous, en masse development of identical physical and/or emotional symptoms among a group of individuals, as seen in a classroom of schoolchildren, a socially contagious frenzy of irrational behaviour in a group of people as a reaction to an event. Synonym: epidemic hysteria. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| anxiety hysteria | Hysteria characterised by manifest anxiety. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| canine hysteria | Syndrome in dogs caused in ingestion of nitrogen trichloride, formerly in common use as a bleaching agent for flour. (05 Mar 2000) |
| major hysteria | A syndrome, now rarely seen, described by Charcot and characterised by a first stage of aura, a second stage of epileptoid convulsions, a third stage of tonic and clonic spasms, a fourth stage of dramatic behaviour, and a fifth stage of delirium; the entire attack may last from a few minutes to half an hour. Sometimes used as a synonym for hysteroepilepsy. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mass hysteria | Spontaneous, en masse development of identical physical and/or emotional symptoms among a group of individuals, as seen in a classroom of schoolchildren, a socially contagious frenzy of irrational behaviour in a group of people as a reaction to an event. Synonym: epidemic hysteria. (05 Mar 2000) |
| minor hysteria | A mild form of hysteria characterised chiefly by subjective pains, nervousness, undue sensitiveness, and sometimes episodes of emotional excitement, but without paralysis or other such symptoms. (05 Mar 2000) |
| conversion hysteria | Hysteria characterised by the substitution, through psychic transformation, of physical signs or symptoms for anxiety; generally restricted to such major symptoms as blindness, deafness, and paralysis, or lesser ones such as blurred vision and numbness. Synonym: conversion hysteria neurosis, conversion neurosis, conversion reaction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| conversion hysteria neurosis | Hysteria characterised by the substitution, through psychic transformation, of physical signs or symptoms for anxiety; generally restricted to such major symptoms as blindness, deafness, and paralysis, or lesser ones such as blurred vision and numbness. Synonym: conversion hysteria neurosis, conversion neurosis, conversion reaction. (05 Mar 2000) |
| hysteria | <medicine> A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxism or fits. The chief symptoms are convulsive, tossing movements of the limbs and head, uncontrollable crying and laughing, and a choking sensation as if a ball were lodged in the throat. The affection presents the most varied symptoms, often simulating those of the gravest diseases, but generally curable by mental treatment alone. Origin: NL., cf. F. Hysterie. See Hysteric. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dissociative hysteria | An unconscious process sometimes seen in patients with multiple personalities, or in hysteria, in which a group of mental processes is separated from the rest of the thinking processes, resulting in an independent functioning of these processes and a loss of the usual relationships among them. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute epidemic conjunctivitis | An obsolete term for an acute conjunctivitis marked by intense hyperaemia and profuse mucopurulent discharge. Synonym: acute epidemic conjunctivitis, pinkeye. (05 Mar 2000) |
| acute epidemic leukoencephalitis | A disease characterised by acute onset of fever, followed by convulsions, delirium, and coma, and associated with perivascular demyelination and haemorrhagic foci in the central nervous system. Synonym: acute primary haemorrhagic meningoencephalitis, Strumpell's disease. (05 Mar 2000) |
| behavioural epidemic | An epidemic originating in behavioural patterns (in contrast to invading microorganisms); examples include medieval dancing mania, episodes of crowd panic. (05 Mar 2000) |
| person to person epidemic | An epidemic resulting from person to person contact, characterised by a gradual rise and fall in number of cases. (09 Oct 1997) |
| common-source epidemic | <microbiology> An epidemic resulting from infection of a large number of people from a single contaminated source. (09 Oct 1997) |
| pleurodynia, epidemic | An acute, febrile, infectious disease generally occurring in epidemics, most often seen in persons under the age of 20. It is usually caused by coxsackie viruses b and sometimes by coxsackie viruses a, echoviruses, and other enteroviruses. (12 Dec 1998) |