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Hysteria!

By: Phoebe Bennett, Nick Minter
Narrated by: Alice Lowe
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  • Summary

  • Hysteria! presents tales of howling nuns, fainting schoolgirls, witches, wombs, online panics and threats – both imagined and real. Crossing decades and continents, and from personal panics to societal scares, Alice Lowe explores hysterical behaviour. Come join the delirium....

    Hysteria is a word that regularly gets misused. It gets attached to everything from overly emotional behaviour to moral panics, via stock market crashes, stampedes, viral videos and more. It's often used – pejoratively – about women, and it shares its roots with the ancient Greek word for womb. The story of hysteria touches on issues of stigma, gender, morality and power. But how do we separate mass psychogenic illness from mere emotional excess?

    Filmmaker, actress and writer Alice Lowe has long been fascinated by the grey area between behavioural control and abandon. In this six-part series, she explores what we really mean when we talk about frenzies, fevers, manias and panics – both individually and throughout society.

    Produced by Wisebuddah for Audible Originals.

    This is an Audible Original Podcast. Free for members. You can download all6 episodes to your Library now.
    ©2019 Audible, Ltd. (P)2019 Audible, Ltd.
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Episodes
  • Ep. 1: Film, Nuns and Deathly Dances

    Ep. 1: Film, Nuns and Deathly Dances
    Jul 24 2019

    Cinema thrives on hysterical characters, especially when they inhabit closed environments such as convents or girls schools. But what can we make of the dozens of people who died during a dancing epidemic in medieval France?
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    34 mins
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  • Ep. 2: Witches, Wombs and Women

    Ep. 2: Witches, Wombs and Women
    Jul 24 2019

    Hysteria shares its etymological roots with the ancient Greek word for womb. Does that explain why women are still more likely than men to be accused of hysterical behaviour?
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    25 mins
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  • Ep. 3: Spirits, Angels and Seances

    Ep. 3: Spirits, Angels and Seances
    Jul 24 2019

    Death – or being in close proximity to death – encourages unusual social behaviour. From the birth of Spiritualism to WW1 and beyond, how are our beliefs shaped by the people we lose?
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    28 mins
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Psychology
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What listeners say about Hysteria!

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Profile Image for caho

Thought Provoking

Fascinating topic and I enjoyed the way they covered the very strange historical stuff through to the forms it takes in modern life. Thought provoking

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7 people found this helpful

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Profile Image for Heather Cowan

Historical significance

Interestingly shows how the word 'hysteria' has evolved from antiquity to present day mass panics.

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5 people found this helpful

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Profile Image for sarah boden

Brilliant and very interesting

Great story, it was extremely interesting and informative. Would 100% recommend for a easy quick and free listen

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Profile Image for debbie evans

interesting

it was interesting and informative would listen to it again enjoyed it will pass it on

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7 people found this helpful

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Profile Image for The Spicer Life

REALLY interesting and well rounded

I thought that this podcast was really interesting and gave some fantastic insight in to both incidents in the past and current issues.

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Profile Image for Anne Wake

Hysteria is a fascinating producing

So interesting to be made to realise just how many places we are influenced by.

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Profile Image for Nina

excellent series , very interesting

I wasnt sure what to expect from this podcast, but I cant stop listening., perhaps I'm hysterical!

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Profile Image for Sarah

didnt expect to enjoy it as much as I did

really interesting stories, wondering into hows and whys things happened. inspired some further research on my part

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Profile Image for Emma Greatbatch-Hughes

Let's hear more

Really interesting. I would love to hear a follow up series specifically about the Covid 19 pandemic. Obviously when it's safe to do so

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Profile Image for Anonymous User

Thoughtful and thought-provoking

Interesting topic, well researched and very well presented.I felt the first couple of episodes seemed a bit unfocused and lacking depth (although that could be down to a scarcity of early source material or just wanting to provide a grounding for the later events), but the later episodes were excellent and honestly changed my opinion about the "reality" (if that's the right word) of mass hysteria.

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6 people found this helpful