In the psychiatrists chair: How neurologists understand conversion disorder

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, todays neurologists once again face a disorder without an accepted model. This article explores how todays 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 distinguishe..