This seems only fitting for my 100th post at Incidental Pieces…

One of the added features I came up with for TheBirthHouse.com before the launch of the book was The Hysteria Quiz. I thought it would be fun to have a little tongue-in-the-cheeky poke at how doctors diagnosed women with this condition at the turn of the century. I based the questions on various causes and symptoms listed in sources of the time (reading too many novels, taking too many bike rides, writing cramps, weariness, ticklishness, etc.)and my dear husband Ian (and web geek in residence) set to writing the code to make the thing tick.

In the last couple of days there’s been quite a spike in hits to the Quiz. Upon further investigation Ian discovered that sites like nerve.com and the glorious blog, Feministing have posted the quiz in conjunction with a link to an article by Erika Kinetz about hysteria (Is Hysteria Real? Brain Images Say Yes.) that appeared in The New York Times earlier this week.
Thanks to Jessica at Feministing for the nifty graphic and for asking the all important quesion,
Just How Hysterical Are You?

According to our stats, there are an awful lot of you who want an answer!

And just in case you haven’t taken it lately…
The Hysteria Quiz