Page "Conversion syndrome" Paragraph 0

Conversion syndrome describes a condition in which physical symptoms arise for which there is no clear explanation.

According to the U. S. National Library of Medicine, conversion syndrome is " a condition in which a person has blindness, paralysis or other nervous system that cannot be explained by medical evaluation ".

The term stems from the 19th century European conception of hysteria, which itself can be traced back to Ancient Egyptian papyri from the 16th century BC.

Psychiatrists now separate out conversion disorder, in which the complaints are neurologic, from similar conditions in which the complaints can be about such things as pain.

Conversion syndrome was not formerly considered a separate disorder but was categorized with somatization disorder until the work of Jean-Martin Charcot and Paul Briquet.

Charcot and Briquet discovered the pattern of traumatic events correlated with the appearance of physical symptoms.

While both men contributed to the current understanding of the disorder, the term comes from Freud.

Through work with patients Freud theorized that symptoms of the syndrome represented inner conflictes of psychological stress.

Patients with conversion and hysteria led Sigmund Freud to his theories on the unconscious and the talking cure, and the same patient population intrigued such physicians as Pierre Janet, J. M. Charcot, and Josef Breuer.

Freud theorized that unacceptable emotions led to psychological conflict that was then converted into physical symptoms.