One of the somatoform disorders (but in some classifications called a dissociative disorder), characterized by a symptom suggestive of a neurological disorder that affects sensation or voluntary motor function. The symptom is not consciously or intentionally produced, cannot be explained fully by any known general medical condition, and is severe enough to impair functioning or require medical attention. Commonly seen conversion symptoms are blindness, double vision, deafness, impaired coordination, paralysis, and seizures.
DSM-III-R term for hysterical neurosis, conversion type.
Conversion hysteria (now obsolete).
A mental illness that is not due to any physical cause, but in which a distressed person develops physical symptoms that mimic a disease of the nervous system or a general medical condition. The symptoms are due to a psychological conflict and are not faked. The symptoms are severe enough to significantly impair the person’s ability to function in family life or work and can include difficulty walking, paralysis or localized weakness, inability to speak, difficulty swallowing (“lump-in-the-throat” feeling), inability to urinate, loss of sense of pain or touch, blindness, double vision, deafness, hallucinations, and seizures.
A psychological disorder, also called hysterical conversion, in which the affected individual presents with striking neurological symptoms such as weakness, paralysis, sensory disturbances or memory loss for which no organic cause can be identified. Up to 4 per cent of patients attending neurological outpatient clinics have been estimated as having conversion disorders. The disorder remains controversial, with theories about its cause unsupported by controlled research results. In clinical practice the physician’s experience and intuition are major factors in diagnosis. It has been suggested that the physical symptoms represent guilt about a physical or emotional assault on someone else. Treatment using a cognitive behaviour approach may help those with conversion disorders.
Conversion disorder, a somatoform condition, entails the intriguing phenomenon of transmuting psychological sensations or urges into tangible physical manifestations. This enigmatic disorder was formerly known as hysterical neurosis of the conversion type.
A psychological condition, previously known as hysteria, in which suppressed emotions seem to be unconsciously transformed into physical manifestations like vision loss, speech impairment, or paralysis. Psychotherapy is typically employed as the primary treatment approach for conversion disorder.