Diagnosis and treatment of conversion disorders

Conversion disorders are symptoms or deficits of voluntary movement or of the sensorium which are not due to neurologic or other medical disease. Historically the concept of conversion in psychoanalytic theory has been closely related to hysteria. According to the current psychiatric classification (DSMIV) conversion disorder is a subdiagnosis of somatoform disorder. Conversion disorder presents with functional impairment varying in severity. Some forms of the disorder manifest with severe physical handicap. The paper gives an overview on definition, classification, diagnosis, course and treatment. Since this review is part of the process of developing guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of the disorder some of the intrinsic methodological aspects of evaluating clinical and empirical evidence in the field of psychotherapy and psychosomatics are discussed.