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3 unusual facts about conversion disorder


Conversion disorder

Formerly known as "hysteria", the disorder has arguably been known for millennia, though it came to greatest prominence at the end of the 19th century, when the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, physician and personality theorist Sigmund Freud and psychiatrist Pierre Janet focused their studies on the subject.

Conversion disorder is considered a psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5).

How Awful About Allan

Allan (Perkins) is suffering from hysterical blindness following a fire that killed his father, a renowned academic who punished Allan as a child.


American Neuropsychiatric Association

Current SIGs include Clinical Practice, Conversion Disorders, Dementia, Developmental Disorders and Pediatrics, Early Career, Epilepsy, Forensics, Global Health, Movement Disorders, Neuroimaging and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Railway spine

Germany's leading neurologist, Hermann Oppenheim, claimed that all railway spine symptoms were due to physical damage to the spine or brain, whereas French and British scholars, notably Jean-Martin Charcot and Herbert Page, insisted that some symptoms could be caused by hysteria (now known as conversion disorder).


see also