Transcript clinical perspectives on psychological disorders.

Conversion Disorder
Jesus Correa
Psychology
Period 2
Conversion Disorder
• This involves translation of
unacceptable drives or troubling
conflict into bodily motor or
sensory symptoms that suggest a
neurological or other kind of
medical condition
• It is a disorder in which
psychological reactions to stress
have neurological reactions,
however, no neurological causes
can be found upon examination.
• Estimates range from 0.01% to
0.5% of the general population; it
is more common in females, with
female to male ratios ranging
from 2:1 up to 10:1
Associated Features
•
•
Causes significant distress or impairment
Common conversion Symptoms:
– Anesthesia
– Paralysis
– Ataxia
– Tremor
– Tonic-clonic pseudoseizues
– Deafness
– Blindness
– Aphonia
–
–
–
–
–
–
Globus hystericuz
Parkinsonism
Syncope
Coma
Anosmia
Ect…
Associated Features
• Usually physical symptoms
occur after tragic or stressful
events causes
• Example :
Sara Falls off a horse and hurts
her arm but does not receive
any serious injury.
Sara sees a horse and causes a
huge amount of stress causes
paralysis to her arm.
Associated Features
• Video Clips
– Band of Brothers
– http://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=_2NbEV8cFzs
This shows the connection
between the soldiers fear of
letting people down (huge
amount of stress) which
causes his blindness to occur.
• This is more common to
uneducated and
unsophisticated.
• Also this is a reflections of
actual experience which
manifest into physical
symptoms.
• The Actual symptoms that
patients show are like
“Hieroglyphics” to the
unconscious conflicts they
keep within.
• Some PET scans show that
patients with conversion
hemiplegia or
hemianesthesia show a
decrease activiation of the
contralateral basal ganlia
and thalamus.
Treatment
• There is no solid clinical medicine
that can cure this disorder.
• Therapy is a treatment most use
for patients with conversion
disorder.
• Family therapy is often used for
adolescence with symptoms
related to family dysfunction.
• Group Therapy is used most often
when letting adolescents to learn
social skills and coping strategies,
and to decrease their
dependency on their families.
• Within Therapy, there can
be a safe way to find out the
cause of the problem.
• Also Hypnosis is another
way to effect the remission
but relapses do occur more
frequently.
Prognosis
• Recovery is very possible. Patients who have recognized there stress
that effect there symptoms can manage or sure themselves. Of
patients hospitalized for the disorder, over half recover within two
weeks. Between 20% and 25% will relapse within a year. The
individual symptoms of conversion disorder are usually self-limited
and do not lead to lasting disabilities; however, patients with
hysterical aphonia, paralysis, or visual disturbances, have better
prognoses for full recovery than those with tremor or
pseudoseizures.
References
Halgin, R.P, & Whitbourne, S.K. (2005). Abnormal psychology:
clinical perspectives on psychological disorders. New York, N.Y:
McGreenHill
Myers, G.D. (2011). Myers psychology for ap. New York, N.Y: Worth
Publishers.
A.D.A.M. (2011). Conversion disorder. Retrieved from
http://www.ncb.nim.hih.gov/publicmedhealth/PMh00019601
Discussion
• Do you truly believe that “stress” is a major contributor to this
disorder or do u believe that patients just crave attention and
fake their symptoms ? Why or why not
• Take a moment and pretend that you are in those patients
shoes, haveing symptoms that no one can explain? How
would you feel and would you believe that its all in your
head?