Conversion Disorder - Causes And Symptoms

Conversion disorder is a psychological disorder in which psychological conflicts get converted into physical symptoms.

The disease is also referred to as a functional neurological symptom disorder. In most cases, this disorder has an impact on your ability to move, your senses, vision, hearing capacity and ability to swallow.

Causative factors

The main cause behind the onset of a conversion disorder is generally a sudden traumatic event (real or imagined). This may also happen due to an emotional conflict or any other mental health disorder, which directly or indirectly affects your brain in an undesirable manner.

Though the exact factors which cause the disease are still unknown, it has been proved by medical researchers that the disorder affects that part of the brain which controls the majority of the senses, muscles, and nerves.

Identification signs

The symptoms of this condition may usually appear immediately after a traumatic event, be it physical or psychological. Some of the most common symptoms of this disorder are listed below.

• Weakness or paralysis of a body part
• Loss of body balance
• Moments of unresponsiveness
• Abnormal, sudden and abrupt body movements such as tremors
• Swallowing problems such as lump in the throat

Some of the symptoms of this disorder might also affect the sensory organs, which include:

• Abnormal numbness of the body
• Speech related problems or inability to speak (psychological mutism)
• Vision related problems such as psychological blindness
• Hearing problems and difficulties

  If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a psychologist.