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Richard A A Kanaan - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Are psychogenic non-epileptic seizures just another symptom of Conversion Disorder?
    Journal of neurology neurosurgery and psychiatry, 2017
    Co-Authors: Richard A A Kanaan, Roderick Duncan, Laura H. Goldstein, Joseph Jankovic, Andrea E. Cavanna
    Abstract:

    Background Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are classified with other functional neurological symptoms as ‘Conversion Disorder’, but there are reasons to wonder whether this symptomatology constitutes a distinct entity. Methods We reviewed the literature comparing PNES with other functional neurological symptoms. Results We find eight studies that directly examined this question. Though all but one found significant differences—notably in presenting age, trauma history, and dissociation—they were divided on whether these differences represented an important distinction. Conclusion We argue that the aetiological and mechanistic distinctions they support, particularly when bolstered by additional data, give reason to sustain a separation between these conditions.

  • Neuropsychological function and memory suppression in Conversion Disorder.
    Journal of neuropsychology, 2013
    Co-Authors: Laura B. Brown, Richard A A Kanaan, Selma Aybek, Timothy R Nicholson, Anthony S. David
    Abstract:

    Conversion Disorder (CD) is a condition where neurological symptoms, such as weakness or sensory disturbance, are unexplained by neurological disease and are presumed to be of psychological origin. Contemporary theories of the Disorder generally propose dysfunctional frontal control of the motor or sensory systems. Classical (Freudian) psychodynamic theory holds that the memory of stressful life events is repressed. Little is known about the frontal (executive) function of these patients, or indeed their general neuropsychological profile, and psychodynamic theories have been largely untested. This study aimed to investigate neuropsychological functioning in patients with CD, focusing on executive and memory function. A directed forgetting task (DFT) using words with variable emotional valence was also used to investigate memory suppression. 21 patients and 36 healthy controls completed a battery of neuropsychological tests and patients had deficits in executive function and auditory-verbal (but not autobiographical) memory. The executive deficits were largely driven by differences in IQ, anxiety and mood between the groups. A subgroup of 11 patients and 28 controls completed the DFT and whilst patients recalled fewer words overall than controls, there were no significant effects of directed forgetting or valence. This study provides some limited support for deficits in executive, and to a lesser degree, memory function in patients with CD, but did not find evidence of altered memory suppression to support the psychodynamic theory of repression.

  • limits to truth telling neurologists communication in Conversion Disorder
    Patient Education and Counseling, 2009
    Co-Authors: Richard A A Kanaan, David Armstrong, Simon Wessely
    Abstract:

    Objective Neurologists face a dilemma when communicating with their Conversion Disorder patients – whether to be frank, and risk losing the patient's trust, or to disclose less, in the hope of building a therapeutic relationship. This study reports how neurologists in the UK described dealing with this dilemma in their practice.

  • in the psychiatrist s chair how neurologists understand Conversion Disorder
    Brain, 2009
    Co-Authors: Richard A A Kanaan, David Armstrong, Philip Barnes, Simon Wessely
    Abstract:

    Conversion Disorder ('hysteria') was largely considered to be a neurological problem in the 19th century, but without a neuropathological explanation it was commonly assimilated with malingering. The theories of Janet and Freud transformed hysteria into a psychiatric condition, but as such models decline in popularity and a neurobiology of Conversion has yet to be found, today's neurologists once again face a Disorder without an accepted model. This article explores how today's neurologists understand Conversion through in-depth interviews with 22 neurology consultants. The neurologists endorsed psychological models but did not understand their patients in such terms. Rather, they distinguished Conversion from other unexplained conditions clinically by its severity and inconsistency. While many did not see this as clearly distinct from feigning, they did not feel that this was their problem to resolve. They saw themselves as 'agnostic' regarding non-neuropathological explanations. However, since neurologists are in some ways more expert in Conversion than psychiatrists, their continuing support for the deception model is important, and begs an explanation. One reason for the model's persistence may be that it is employed as a diagnostic device, used to differentiate between those unexplained symptoms that could, in principle, have a medical explanation and those that could not.

Trevor A Hurwitz - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • somatization and Conversion Disorder
    The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2004
    Co-Authors: Trevor A Hurwitz
    Abstract:

    Somatization is the psychological mechanism whereby psychological distress is expressed in the form of physical symptoms. The psychological distress in somatization is most commonly caused by a mood Disorder that threatens mental stability. Conversion Disorder occurs when the somatic presentation involves any aspect of the central nervous system over which voluntary control is exercised. Conversion reactions represent fixed ideas about neurologic malfunction that are consciously enacted, resulting in psychogenic neurologic deficits. Treatment is complex and lengthy; it includes recovery of neurologic function aided by narcoanalysis and identification and treatment of the primary psychiatric Disorder, usually a mood Disorder.

Andrea E. Cavanna - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Are psychogenic non-epileptic seizures just another symptom of Conversion Disorder?
    Journal of neurology neurosurgery and psychiatry, 2017
    Co-Authors: Richard A A Kanaan, Roderick Duncan, Laura H. Goldstein, Joseph Jankovic, Andrea E. Cavanna
    Abstract:

    Background Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are classified with other functional neurological symptoms as ‘Conversion Disorder’, but there are reasons to wonder whether this symptomatology constitutes a distinct entity. Methods We reviewed the literature comparing PNES with other functional neurological symptoms. Results We find eight studies that directly examined this question. Though all but one found significant differences—notably in presenting age, trauma history, and dissociation—they were divided on whether these differences represented an important distinction. Conclusion We argue that the aetiological and mechanistic distinctions they support, particularly when bolstered by additional data, give reason to sustain a separation between these conditions.

  • functional neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of functional neurological Disorders Conversion Disorder
    Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2016
    Co-Authors: Valerie Voon, Andrea E. Cavanna, Kerry L Coburn, Shirlene Sampson, Alya Reeve, Curt W Lafrance
    Abstract:

    Much is known regarding the physical characteristics, comorbid symptoms, psychological makeup, and neuropsychological performance of patients with functional neurological Disorders (FNDs)/Conversion Disorders. Gross neurostructural deficits do not account for the patients’ deficits or symptoms. This review describes the literature focusing on potential neurobiological (i.e. functional neuroanatomic/neurophysiological) findings among individuals with FND, examining neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies of patients with the various forms of motor and sensory FND. In summary, neural networks and neurophysiologic mechanisms may mediate “functional” symptoms, reflecting neurobiological and intrapsychic processes.

Greg J Anson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • can motor imagery and hypnotic susceptibility explain Conversion Disorder with motor symptoms
    Neuropsychologia, 2016
    Co-Authors: Alexander J Srzich, James W Stinear, John Cirillo, Winston D. Byblow, Greg J Anson
    Abstract:

    Abstract Marked distortions in sense of agency can be induced by hypnosis in susceptible individuals, including alterations in subjective awareness of movement initiation and control. These distortions, with associated disability, are similar to those experienced with Conversion Disorder (CD), an observation that has led to the hypothesis that hypnosis and CD share causal mechanisms. The purpose of this review is to explore the relationships among motor imagery (MI), hypnotic susceptibility, and CD, then to propose how MI ability may contribute to hypnotic responding and CD. Studies employing subjective assessments of mental imagery have found little association between imagery abilities and hypnotic susceptibility. A positive association between imagery abilities and hypnotic susceptibility becomes apparent when objective measures of imagery ability are employed. A candidate mechanism to explain motor responses during hypnosis is kinaesthetic MI, which engages a strategy that involves proprioception or the “feel” of movement when no movement occurs. Motor suppression imagery (MSI), a strategy involving inhibition of movement, may provide an alternate objective measurable phenomenon that underlies both hypnotic susceptibility and CD. Evidence to date supports the idea that there may be a positive association between kinaesthetic MI ability and hypnotic susceptibility. Additional evidence supports a positive association between hypnotic susceptibility and CD. Disturbances in kinaesthetic MI performance in CD patients indicate that MI mechanisms may also underlie CD symptoms. Further investigation of the above relationships is warranted to explain these phenomena, and establish theoretical explanations underlying sense of agency.

Pieter Sandijck - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • hypnotic susceptibility in patients with Conversion Disorder
    Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2002
    Co-Authors: Karin Roelofs, Kees Hoogduin, Gerard Naring, Franny C Moene, Ger P. J. Keijsers, Pieter Sandijck
    Abstract:

    : Conversion Disorder has been associated with hypnotic susceptibility for over a century and is currently still believed to be a form of autohypnosis. There is, however, little empirical evidence for the relation between hypnotic susceptibility and Conversion symptoms. The authors compared 50 patients with Conversion Disorder with 50 matched control patients with an affective Disorder on measures of hypnotic susceptibility, cognitive dissociation, and somatoform dissociation. Conversion patients were significantly more responsive to hypnotic suggestions than control patients. In addition, Conversion patients showed a significant correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and the number of Conversion complaints. These results provide the first evidence of a relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and the presence and number of Conversion symptoms.