Conversion Disorder

Conversion disorder, also known as functional neurological symptom disorder, is rare and only affects around 4 to 12 people out of every 100,000 which is almost 60 times more rare than getting cancer. This disorder has shown to mainly affect the body’s nervous system and causes differing effects from person to person as it usually is in combination with some other disorders which can affect the person’s senses and cause them to have muscle spasms. The parts of your brain that are affected are the prefrontal cortex and motor cortex having an increase in activity, while the hippocampus has a lower activity. Episodes that you get from it are usually in the form of muscle spasms, twitching, sensory flashes, and numbness. But what causes conversion disorder? Many people who develop it get it as a cause of psychological trauma, such as guilt for something that you did, or large amounts of stress that cause you to start losing control of your body.

In order to treat this disorder, we have multiple different kinds of therapies to try, the most recommended one is a psychotherapy called CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), this type is the most common to treat it and is also the most likely to work. Second is hypnotherapy, also known as hypnosis, which can help relax and destress the person being affected by conversion disorder. And finally, family and group therapy, which can help the people around them understand what is happening and also to give them an outlet to hopefully give the person with the disorder relief.

Conversion disorder will make you feel like you don’t have control over your body, making you feel more stressed and sometimes angry