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Conversion disorder: symptoms, treatments and possible causes

Conversion disorder: symptoms, treatments and possible causes

March 29, 2024

Formerly known as hysteria, conversion disorder acquired its fame at the end of the 19th century , being the majority of people diagnosed women, of those that thought that they were repressed by the society that surrounded them.

On the other hand, Sigmund Freud himself proposed that this disorder had its origin a repressed feeling of anger or unresolved internal conflicts , using hypnosis as the main remedy for this alteration.

Currently, it has been investigated with much more depth, also known as dissociative disorder, mental alteration in which the person Unconsciously abandons control when integrating emotions or experiences and manifesting the discomfort through physical symptoms.


  • Related article: "The 16 most common mental disorders"

What is conversion disorder?

Conversion disorder refers to a whole set of symptoms that interfere with human behavior and that apparently take the form of a neurological condition. But nevertheless these symptoms do not correspond to any physical alterations diagnosed nor can they be justified by any other disease.

Currently, the main feature of this disorder is the appearance of symptoms or difficulties that interfere with the normal activity of the person, both at motor and sensory level, these difficulties are not voluntary and are associated with psychological factors or alterations.


The term conversion is used to refer to the ability of the patient to involuntarily transform a psychological alteration into a disorder or physical difficulty. These capacities can range from the simple difficulty or inability to activate some body parts to the use of the senses. For example, it has been documented that in some cases you get to experience an apparent blindness .

As mentioned above, people suffering from this condition do not feign symptoms, but suffer real anguish, so it is not advisable to affirm before the patient that all their difficulties and ailments are inside their head.

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Symptoms of conversion disorder

This type of complex disorder can present two types of symptoms, both motor and sensory:


Motor symptoms

  • Difficulties in coordination or the balance
  • Afony or impairment in the ability to make sounds
  • Urinary containment problems
  • Paralysis or weakening of some body area , affecting the entire body
  • Problems in swallowing
  • Desvanecimentos
  • Dystonia
  • Psychogenic crisis or seizures

Sensory symptoms

  • Deficits in vision: double vision or vision
  • Problems of auditory sense
  • Losses in the perception of touch

Causes and risk factors

Although the causes of conversion disorder are not established in a concise manner, it is theorized that the above symptoms are related to the appearance of some psychological conflict or some stressful event .

In general, the signs appear suddenly after the person experiences some traumatic or stressful experience. It has been observed that patients with this disorder usually also have:

  • Physical diseases
  • Dissociative disorders
  • Alterations of the personality

However, conversion disorder can also occur in apparently healthy people, there being a number of risk factors that make these subjects an easy target for this disorder.

  • Excessive stress
  • Emotional traumas
  • Belonging to the female sex
  • Relatives with conversion disorders
  • Experiences of physical and sexual abuse

Diagnosis

There are several steps to follow to make a diagnosis of an appropriate conversion disorder. First of all, a distinction must be made whether the person really suffers from a conversion disorder or, if instead, is faking the symptoms.

Although it can be a complicated task, people with tendencies to feign symptoms usually seek to obtain some benefit with pretense, this motivation can be economic, emotional, need for attention, etc.

Next, it has exclude the possibility that it is the impact of a neurological disease , since this disease usually takes forms similar to a neurological disorder such as headache, epilepsy or sclerosis.

Therefore, it is vital that the clinical staff discard any possibility of an underlying neurological disease, for this the neurology specialist must perform a thorough examination of the patient.

Also, it is necessary to eliminate the possibility that it is another type of disorder, such as a factitious disorder or Munchausen syndrome by proxy. In the first, the person feigns the symptoms with the intention of avoiding obligations or being the center of attention; and in the second one of the parents or a caregiver, creates fictitious symptoms or provokes some other real ones in the minor.

Finally, and with the aim of developing a diagnosis as close as possible, it is necessary that the patient presents the following diagnostic criteria present in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM):

  • Presence of one or more difficulties that interfere in the motor or sensory functions that suggest the presence of a neurological or medical disorder.
  • Existence of Previous events, experiences or conflicts that may be associated with the symptomatology.
  • The set of symptoms are not caused consciously or voluntarily.
  • Symptoms it is not justified by the presence of another alteration or medical condition , nor for the consumption of substances.
  • The symptomatology originates a clinically significant, interfering in the different areas of the patient's daily life and needing medical attention.
  • With set of symptoms is not restricted to pain or deficits in sexual function , it does not appear during a somatization disorder and it is not due to the appearance of another sexual disorder.

Treatment and prognosis

The fundamental point in the treatment of conversion disorder is to suppress or diminish the origin of stress, or on the other hand work with the traumatic events the patient has experienced , in order to reduce the level of tension in this.

On the other hand, it is necessary to eliminate the secondary gains or benefits that the patient may be obtaining from this behavior, even if he is not fully aware of it.

Habitually, the symptomatology can be automatically remitted , lasting from days to weeks and arriving to remit automatically. However, there are a number of resources and interventions that can benefit the patient. These are:

  • Explanation of the disease
  • Psychotherapy
  • Occupational therapy
  • Treatment of other present disorders such as depression or anxiety

Patient Centered Approach to Conversion Disorder (March 2024).


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