This is a retrospective clinical study of 40 inpatients diagnosed as suffering from hysteria, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III-R), admitted to King Khalid University Hospital at Riyadh over a period of 10 years (1985-95). The female:male ratio was 3:1, 80% were less than 30 years of age and 60% were single. Hysterical conversion was the most common type (95%), whereas hysterical dissociation was rare (2.5%). A stressful situation preceded the onset of symptoms in 62.5% of the cases. Twenty-five percent of the patients were clinically depressed. The typical histrionic personality was rare.