Abstract
Chronic pain without lesion was recognized throughout the century, initially by surgeons and physicians and later by psychiatrists. The syndrome displayed remarkable phenomenological stability over time. Terminology and taxonomy were complex, including Hysteria, Hypochondria, Spinal Irritation and Neuralgia.
Pain without lesion provided a focus for extension of Bichat's concept of lesion, reappraisal of the spatial and temporal relationship between symptom and lesion, consideration of some psychological determinants of pain and discussion of mechanisms by which the mind might act upon the body.
A brief exposition of Freud and Breuer's account of Hysterical Pain concludes the paper.
Primary sources include Travers, Tate, Teale, Swan, Brodie, Anstie, Tuke, Wilks, Freud and Breuer.
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