Psychosocial Factors in Children and Adolescents with Conversion Disorder

IntroductionIn view of the limited on study of the psychosocial environment of childreb presenting with conversiondisorders the present study was carried out to study the to psychosocial factors in patients of conversiondisorder in children.Method40 patients of Conversion Disorder, who presented with ‘pseudo seizures’ and were diagnosedaccording to DSM IV criteria, comprised the sample. They underwent detailed psychiatric assessment.The psychosocial events and factors and were elicited by administering the PSLES and by interviewingthe parent and child by a semi-structured interview, which covered details of school history, familyenvironment, psychosexual and other behavior: The intellectual level of the patients was assessed by abattery of psychological instruments Relevant investigations, hormonal assays, radiological, EEG etc.were done wherever necessary.ResultsMajority of the patients were educated up to 5th class, had rural domicile and belonged to poor andlower middle SES. They were about equally represented in the two sexesBorderline Intellectual functioning, improper schooling, family stress and current past/ physical illnesswere present in 37.5-40 % (N=15-16) of the cases. Incidental radiological and EEG findings andunusual status of the child; only son, only childor the youngest child; were present in 33% (N=13) of the cases. Conversion/ epilepsy in family/neighbour / friend and improper parenting was encountered in 22.5-20.5% (N=8-9) of the cases. Lastly,recent loss of loved one and sibling rivalry were seen to be significant in 7.5 to 12.5% (N=3-5) of thecases. 80 % of the patients had 2-3 contributory factors; the remaining had either 4 or 5 contributoryfactors.