anxiety hysteria n an anxiety disorder and esp. a phobia when the mental aspects of anxiety are emphasized over any accompanying physical symptoms (as heart palpitations and breathlessness) used esp. in early Freudian psychiatry
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Freud's term for phobias, reflecting his view that the same defense mechanisms, repression and displacement, and the same unconscious conflicts involving infantile sexuality are involved in both hysteria and phobias.Medical dictionary. 2011.