The greatest advances in mental health came in the study of hysteria, a mental disorder characterized by emotional outbursts, susceptibility to suggestion, and contractions and paralyses of the muscles that could not be explained by simple anatomy. Once considered an affliction of unstable or malingering women (the names comes from the Greek word for womb), hysteria now became a window into the mysteries of mind and body. The names of some of the greatest pioneers in neurology and psychiatry, such as Jean-Martin Charcot, Pierre Janet, and Sigmund Freud, are associated with the discovery that trauma is at the root of hysteria, particularly the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. These early researchers referred to traumatic memories as pathogenic secrets or mental parasites, because as much as the sufferers wanted to forget whatever had happened, their memories kept forcing themselves into consciousness, trapping them in an ever-renewing present of existential horror.

I think it is possible that the reason society has so many problems is because they are not mature enough to deal with the sex. Many people are not mentally mature at the age of eight-teen, they are still operating with the minds of children, but are programed by society to think they it is time to have a sexual revolution and they start having the sex with people, and not even understanding that the true purpose for the sex is procreation. So in a since, they are abusing themselves, and others and engaging in something that is not supposed to be just tossed around and it may lead to mental problems. I have read stories about men and women, of adult age, who freak out during the sex and attack their partner, or threat to kill them when they are touched in a certain way, or when their mate says certain keywords. So my hypothesis is that these adults are probably engaging in the sexual activities because they think they are supposed to and much like victims of childhood sexual abuse, they end up traumatized and in pain.

And to make matters worse, a lot of people get their feelings hurt after the sex, which they think is special, but someone else just saw it as a way to relieve stress, or convince themselves that they are heterosexual. Not only that, but many adults have the unprotected sex and end up with sexually transmitted infections, or babies. In many cases, men are forced to marry a woman simply because he got her pregnant and he still may be unsure of his sexual identity or she may not even be the woman of his dreams, but he wants to stick around for the sake of the child they created. And then some women get pregnant on purpose, they lie and tell men that they are taking birth control or still a used condom out of the trash so they can get impregnated, trap him into a relationship, and never have to work a day in her life because she hooked a man. So because of these bad experiences with the sex, people are trapped in ever-renewing present of existential horror and it causes them to become traumatized because they do not understand what they are doing and these many not be relationships, nor children that they desire.

So these men and woman are forcing themselves to be in relationships, for whatever reason, and they may not even be in love and intrinsically that is causing them to suffer psychological trauma and they may or may not even be in love with the person, which causes their heart to harden and creates all sort of mental issues within the pair. Then, because the couple do not realize what is going on, they are mean to others as a way of releasing their pain they are getting from their relationship. They trauma comes out of them in sarcasm, bullying, and violent behavior towards others who many not have even done anything to the aggressor because the aggressor is living foul. Pretending to be someone they are not and engaging in a lifestyle they many not even truly want. Jean-Martin Charcot believed that women would be a critical factor in this struggle, and his investigation into hysteria offered a scientific explanation for phenomena such as demonic possession states, witchcraft, exorcism, and religious ecstasy.

Jean-Martin Charcot conducted meticulous studies of the physiological and neurological correlates of hysteria in both men and women, all of which emphasized embodied memory and a lack of language. For example, in 1889 he published the case of patient named Lelog, who developed paralysis of the legs after being involved in a traffic accident with a horse-drawn cart. Although Lelog fell to the ground and lost consciousness, his legs appeared unhurt, and there were no neurological signs that would indicate a physical cause for his paralysis. Jean-Martin Charcot discovered that just before Lelog passed out, he saw the wheels of the cart approaching him and strongly believed he would be run over. He noted that the patient does not preserve any recollection. Questions addressed to him upon this point are attended with no result. He knows nothing or almost nothing. Like many other patients at the Salpetriere, Lelog expressed his experience physically: Instead of remember the accident, he developed paralysis of his legs.

However, for me the real hero of this story is Pierre Janet, who helped Jean-Martin Charcot establish a research laboratory devoted to the study of hysteria at the Salpeteiere. In 1889, the same year that the Eiffel Tower was built, Pierre Janet published the first book-length scientific account of traumatic stress: L’automatisme psychologique. Pierre Janet proposed that at the roof of what we now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was the experience of vehement emotions, or intense emotional arousal. This treatise explained that, after having been traumatized, people automatically keep repeating certain actions, emotions, and sensation related to the trauma. And unlike Jean-Martin Charcot, who was primarily interested in measuring and documenting patients’ physical symptoms, Pierre Janet spent untold hours talking with them, trying to discover what was going on in their minds.

Also in contrast to Jean-Martin Charcot, whose research focused on understanding the phenomenon of hysteria, Pierre Janet was first and foremost a clinician whose goal was to treat his patients. That is why I studied his case reports in detail and why he became one of my most important teachers. In a similar fashion, an elaborate loneliness trap has been woven by those who suggest that modern men and women should be totally self-sufficient and independent. Interpersonal freedom is the melody they play, and thousands now march in step behind them. These pipers trap people because they make them feel guilty for even admitting they are lonely; they insinuate that it is a sign of weakness to admit publically that a person really needs someone else, and not just for the sex. The search for interpersonal freedom and the resultant loneliness appear in many forms. One of the more fashionable forms to emerge in the last decade is the identity crisis, which involves know who you are, doing your own thing, and doing it your way. The most important thing is to become a real person, and this apparently is accomplished by being different from everyone else.

Great fear is expressed at the thought of being only marginally different—the cleavage between the individual and everybody else must be sharp and total. The search for one’s own identity cannot be found with somebody else; it is a private, solitary, and lonely struggle. Where then can people seek their identities if not with other people? That is the crisis question, and many resolve it by equating their identity with their careers. Careers become the main objective, and everything else becomes secondary. One’s spouse, family, friends, relaxation, aesthetic interest, all must play second fiddle to the pursuit of a successful career. In its most acute form, this process leads to the full-blown development of the Type A character. Driven and work-addicted, the Type A person often ends up in total social isolation—and dies of premature coronary disease. I would love to continue this discussion later; I am running late.