Conference of French-Speaking Psychoanalysts
The conference of French-speaking psychoanalysts, recently held in Paris, under the chairmanship of Dr. Allenby, was devoted to the study of the psychology of hysterical persons and to their psychoanalytic treatment. Dr. Parcheminey of Paris, president of the Société psychanalytique de France, discussed "Conversion Hysteria" and the disorders that characterize it (paralyses, contractures, pseudocoxalgias, anesthesias or paresthesias, disturbances of the senses, paroxysmal attacks, catalepsy, somnambulism). Related to these are disorders, which are not specifically of an hysterical nature (vasomotor disorders, edemas, hemorrhagias, war psychopathies). The term "conversion hysteria," created by Freud, may lead to confusion; for the author used it only as a basis of comparison for the study of certain phobias and obsessions. In reality, hysteria is distinct. It appears and disappears, however, suddenly. Its transformation into mental disorders may also be sudden. It is easily modified by suggestion and persuasion, whereas phobias and obsessions