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Hysteria

3m 59s

How do the beliefs of the day shape the understanding of mental illness? This clip explores how biases, have formed the basis of many mental health diagnoses. Until late into the 20th century, for example, hysteria was a diagnosis given to any woman who didn't fit the archetypal female stereotype.

Funding for Mysteries of Mental Illness is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Johnson & Johnson, the American Psychiatric Association Foundation, and Draper, and through the support of PBS viewers.
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