Freud’s Hysteria Theory Backed by Patients’ Brain Scans [View all]

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-17/freud-s-hysteria-theory-backed-by-patients-brain-scans.html


Sigmund Freud may have been right about repressed memories causing hysteria.

Scientists at King’s College London and the University of Melbourne have found, using brain scans, that psychological stress may be to blame for unexplained physical symptoms, including paralysis and seizures.

Patients showed differences in brain activity when they recalled traumatic memories compared with healthy volunteers in a study published in last month’s edition of JAMA Psychiatry. Besides supporting Freud’s theory and helping to explain one of the most common complaints seen by neurologists, the research may lead to new treatment approaches for patients whose symptoms were often written off by doctors in the past.

“This is the first paper that I’m aware of that really shows that previous traumatic events can definitely trigger this kind of motor response,” said John Speed, a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, who wasn’t involved in the research. “It’s very exciting.”