hysterical identification, n.All

Hysterical identification (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠sympathy intensified to the point of reproduction.

Hysterical identification (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Freud's term for complete surrender to an absorbing idea until one feels oneself to be its object, as a patient felt herself one of the paper riders of her visions; we all think this way in dreams.

Hysterical identification (n.) spreads ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠through a ward as psychical infection — not by copying but by sympathy that reasons unconsciously from like causes to like attacks.