Symptoms of conversion disorder vary considerably between individuals, but the most common are blindness, numbness, paralysis, and seizures. These symptoms usually occur in temporary episodes, though they can affect the individual long-term. A single person may experience several symptoms at once, but not everyone with conversion disorder has episodes involving multiple symptoms.

Rutgers University

Google

Conversion disorder is a neurological condition in which the individual is seen to experience sensory- or motor-based deficits that cannot be explained by any other known neurological disorders. While this definition seems convoluted, it is the common way that conversion disorder is defined in the clinical setting. The name, “conversion disorder,” comes from the concept of internal emotional and psychological states (which have been repressed) manifesting, or converting, into inexplicable physical symptoms, such as (but not limited to): blindness, numbness, paralysis, and seizures. This disorder is quite hard to diagnose, and tends to be a controversial diagnosis, due to the fact that the underlying psychological issues may be hard to address or discover. 

Conversion Disorder

Conversion disorder is often neglected as a diagnosis, at times due to the controversy of this condition. While people with conversion disorder are truly experiencing paralysis or seizures, many are believed to be faking it due to inconsistencies in the way the symptoms manifest. For example, a person with paralysis episodes may lose control of the left side of their body in one episode, and the right side of their body in another. Seizures will not appear as expected on neurological scans, which causes doctors to question whether or not the person is truly seizing.

Conversion disorder can also be difficult to diagnose, as it might require unpacking the individual’s history of trauma to discover the cause. There are also a lot of protocols for doctors to diagnose conversion disorder, including particular terminology and attitude toward the disease. Previous terminology regarding non-epileptic seizures would deem them “pseudo-seizures,” which tended to imply that they were not real or of the same magnitude. Additionally, it’s important for doctors to recognize that patients may not be receptive to therapy or other mental health treatment options, as they have been repressing trauma and emotions over the course of their lives.

Conversion Disorder: Controversy

Conversion Disorder: Symptoms

Criteria for diagnosis of conversion disorder has drastically changed over the years, due to different stigmas and terminology being applied. At this point, conversion disorder can be diagnosed as per the guidelines of the DSM-V.

Individuals diagnosed with conversion disorder must have experienced dysfunction of one or more motor or sensory functions on more than one occasion. This dysfunction cannot be due to any other known conditions, and thus cannot be explained through further scans. Additionally, the symptoms must cause some sort of disruption in daily life, whether through functional or social means.

Conversion Disorder: Diagnosis

Treatments for conversion disorder primarily focus on the underlying psychological causes through talk therapy or psychiatric medications, which have been shown to improve symptoms and decrease episodes. Other treatments target the physical manifestations directly, including physical therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and hypnosis. Anti-epileptic medications have not been found effective for conversion disorder patients experiencing non-epileptic seizures.

Learn Before

Related