Hysteria and Academic Performance

Abstract

To assess the possible relationship between hysteria, as defined by Miller and Keane in 1972, and academic performance, for 27 secondary school pupils comprising 25 girls and 2 boys (ages 12 to 23 years, in Grades 8 to 12 of six different schools) and with known histories of hysterical attacks (locally known as Lihabiya) diagnosed by hospital authorities or traditional healers grades in English, Mathematics, and the local language siSwati were compared before and after hysterical episodes. Although all their marks before the attack were higher, differences were not statistically significant.