Diagnostic criteria for 300.11 Conversion Disorder 
( cautionary statement )

Whilst "hysterical" blindness, paralysis, anesthesia, dysphagia, and gait disturbance have been described for many years, This patient confronts an acute stressor that creates a psychic conflict, and the physical symptom(s) serve as the resolution for the conflict.  The patient may repress the stressor or be unaware of its impact. Failure to recognize and treat this early in the course may lead to symptoms which eventually become harder or impossible to cure. This disorder may occur at any age, either gender, any personality.  A conversion disorder is characterized by the loss of a bodily function, for example blindness , paralysis, or the inability to speak . The loss of physical function is involuntary, but diagnostic testing does not show a physical cause for the dysfunction. 

A. One or more symptoms or deficits affecting voluntary motor or sensory function that suggest a neurological or other general medical condition. 

B. Psychological factors are judged to be associated with the symptom or deficit because the initiation or exacerbation of the symptom or deficit is preceded by conflicts or other stressors. 

C. The symptom or deficit is not intentionally produced or feigned (as in Factitious Disorder or Malingering ). 

D. The symptom or deficit cannot, after appropriate investigation, be fully explained by a general medical condition, or by the direct effects of a substance , or as a culturally sanctioned behavior or experience. 

E. The symptom or deficit causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning or warrants medical evaluation. 

F. The symptom or deficit is not limited to pain or sexual dysfunction, does not occur exclusively during the course of Somatization Disorder , and is not better accounted for by another mental disorder . 

Specify type of symptom or deficit: 
With Motor Symptom or Deficit 
With Sensory Symptom or Deficit 
With Seizures or Convulsions 
With Mixed Presentation

Symptom Groupings:

Sensory Symptoms: These include anesthesia, excessive sensitivity to strong simulation (hyperanesthesia), loss of sense of pain (analgesia), and unusual symptoms such as tingling or crawling sensations.

Motor Symptoms: In motor symptoms, any of the body's muscle groups may be involved: arms, legs, vocal chords. Included are tremors, tics (involuntary twitches), and disorganized mobility or paralysis.

Visceral Symptoms: Examples are trouble swallowing, frequent belching, spells of coughing or vomiting, all carried to an uncommon extreme. In both sensory and motor symptoms, the areas affected may not correspond at all to the nerve distribution in the area.

Associated Features:

Depressed Mood.
Somatic or Sexual Dysfunction.
Guilt or Obsession.
Anxious or Fearful or Dependent Personality.

Differential Diagnosis:

Some disorders have similar or even the same symptom. The clinician, therefore, in his diagnostic attempt has to differentiate against the following disorders which he needs to rule out to establish a precise diagnosis.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
Histrionic Personality Disorder.
Dependent personality Disorder.

Cause:

The symptom onset of this disorder is usually very sudden and follows a stressful experience. These disorders may be best thought of as disturbances of illness perception or need. They are paradigms of mind-body interactions and of the critical role of mental factors in the production of illness. Though the role of the mind in creating and maintaining illness has been known since antiquity, terms such as hysteria or psychosomatic illness have lost their meaning over time. All illnesses are "psychosomatic:" they occur in an individual at a particular psychological point in his/her life.

Treatment:

A physical examination is performed to rule out physical cause for loss of function. Specific diagnostic testing related to the exhibited symptom may be warranted to rule out a physical cause.

Counseling and Psychotherapy:

The loss of function may symbolize the underlying conflict associated with it. Psychodynamic theory interprets the cause of the symptoms as a defense mechanism that absorbs and neutralizes the anxiety generated by an unacceptable impulse or wish.

Psychiatric treatment is recommended to help the person understand the underlying psychological conflict. The person needs to know there is no organic cause for the symptom. The integrity of the affected body part or function must be maintained until the conflict is resolved and the symptoms usually disappear.

Complications can result from disuse of a body part or system. Seizure-like disorders referred to as pseudoseizures develop in some individuals.

Pharmacotherapy:

Anti Depressants.