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.

---

conversion disorder British  

noun

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

---

Example Sentences

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

From BBC • Aug. 21, 2023

As a teenager she was told she had hysterical blindness, now known as conversion disorder; later in life she was said to be schizophrenic.

From New York Times • Aug. 5, 2022

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

Precisely because Thera seemed to have the world at her feet, it’s hard for Lydia to accept what the doctors have said about conversion disorder.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2012

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

From Slate • Jan. 31, 2012