Hysteria is a graphic novel account of the first steps, errors and frustrations of Sigmund Freud’s career, which would lead to the foundation of a revolutionary new clinical therapy: psychoanalysis.


The book traces Freud’s early training in neurological research and medicine; the crucial turning point of his studies with Jean-Martin Charcot at La Salpêtrière; and his establishment of a therapeutic practice in Vienna. Perfectly matching text and illustrations, Hysteri recounts Freud’s interest in his colleague Josef Breuer’s ‘Anna O’ case study, as well as giving an account of his own case histories of hysteria, particularly the treatment of Fräulein Elisabeth von R. The studies brought to life in this authoritative, beautifully illustrated graphic novel are collected in Freud and Breuer’s co-authored Studies in Hysteria, which marked the birth of psychoanalysis.

Visual artist(s): Oscar Zarate