[Involutional hysteria as a form in dynamics of personality disorder].

Forty patients (37 women, 3 men, age 47.3 +/- 3.4 years) with diagnosis of involutional hysteria (IH) have been studied. Two variants of IH have been identified. The first one, hystero-hypochondriac, is characterized by a prevalence of conversions, asthenia and hypochondria; the second--by hysterical depression, overvalued erotomania with premorbid histrionic personality disorder. The hypochondriac variant of IH is triggered by somatogenic disorders (gynecological surgeries, cardiovascular diseases) as well as various psychogenic factors (conflicts in professional and family life). Manifestation of the second variant is realized by the mechanism of key feeling, with trigger factors related to the objects of overvalued events (adultery, break-up of love affairs).