Cited by 80Psychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology ResearchPsychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Patterns of Emotional-Cognitive Functioning in Pediatric Conversion Patients: Implications for the Conceptualization of Conversion Disorders

Kozlowska, Kasia, Scher, Stephen, Williams, Leanne M.·2011·Psychosomatic Medicine

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To examine patterns of emotion processing in children and adolescents with conversion disorders and to determine whether those patterns are associated with particular clusters of conversion symptoms. Autobiographical narratives were used to investigate the organization of information about distressing feelings and memories. METHODS: Structured interviews about attachment relationships and autobiographical events were administered to 76 controls and 76 matched subjects aged 6 to 18 years. Age-appropriate assessments of attachment were used: the School-aged Assessment of Attachment for children and the Transition to Adulthood Attachment Interview for adolescents. Patterns of emotion processing were identified using dynamic-maturational model discourse analysis and categorized into four clusters: inhibitory, normative/balanced, coercive-preoccupied, and mixed inhibitory and coercive-preoccupied. These clusters were then cross-tabulated with the sensorimotor characteristics of children with conversion disorders. RESULTS: Emotion processing in children with conversion disorders was categorized as psychological inhibition (57%), psychological coercion-preoccupation (34%), and mixed (9%). Psychological inhibition was associated with negative conversion symptoms (discrete sensorimotor deficits, p = .003) and positive conversion symptoms (tremors and tics, p = .04). Psychological coercion-preoccupation was associated with all other disturbances of motor function: bizarre gaits and postures, whole-body floppiness, and refusals to move (p < .0001). Nonepileptic seizures occurred across both groups (56% versus 42%, p = .8). CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to the classic understanding of conversion disorder as a unified diagnostic entity with diverse symptoms, this study identified two distinct subtypes of conversion patients-those using psychological inhibition and those using psychological coercion-preoccupation-whose symptoms fell into discrete clusters. Further research is needed to determine the neural mechanisms underlying these processes.

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Crossref · 10.1097/psy.0b013e3182361e12

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Authors
Kozlowska, K., Scher, S., & Williams, L. M.
Affiliations
Children's Hospital at Westmead (AU)
Corresponding author
Kozlowska, Kasia
Venue
Psychosomatic Medicine
Published
2011-11
Volume
73
Issue
9
Pages
775-788
ISSN
0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2035416338
Cited by
80
References
127
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
FWCI
2.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
Keywords
conversion disorder, emotional processing, children and adolescents, non-epileptic seizures, attachment, autobiographical narrative
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Basal Ganglia, Mental Disorders, Child, Cognition, Conversion Disorder, Cross-Sectional Studies, Emotions, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Life Change Events, Male, Models, Psychological, Nerve Net, New South Wales, Seizures, Comorbidity, Prefrontal Cortex, Narration, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Memory, Episodic

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