conversion disorder

American  

noun

Psychiatry.

1. a mental disorder in which physical symptoms, as paralysis or blindness, occur without apparent physical cause and instead appear to result from psychological conflict or need.

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conversion disorder British  

noun

1. a psychological disorder in which severe physical symptoms like blindness or paralysis appear with no apparent physical cause

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

conversion disorder

Neil Crouch, from Harlow in Essex, has motor conversion disorder, severe arthritis and suffers from kidney disease.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2023

Rare conditions can also result from stress and trauma, including functional neurological disorder, or conversion disorder, which affects someone’s ability to see, walk or hear — without any medical explanation.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 7, 2022

Even some of the girls who do not subscribe to the diagnosis of conversion disorder — Katie, for example — have been receiving therapy in addition to taking antibiotics.

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2012

Recent research has confirmed some of Freud’s early theorizing on the subject, finding that a history of trauma is higher in patients with conversion disorder than in other kinds of psychiatric patients.

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2012

Now, however, her symptoms have another name: conversion disorder, or mass hysteria.

From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2012