Welcome to our Conversion Disorders topic center. The Conversion Disorders (technically known as the Somatoform Disorders) are a family of disorders whose defining characteristic is that they all involve physical bodily symptoms suggestive of a medical problem, in the absence of evidence of medical problems that could account such symptoms. Conversion disorders can co-occur with medical problems, but only when the medical problems are insufficient all by themselves to account for the severity of the conversion symptoms a given patient experiences.
Examples of conversion disorders include Hypocondriasis, Pain Disorder (including chronic pain), Conversion Disorder and Somatization Disorder (historically known as hysteria). Hypocondriasis involves a fear of contracting a serious illness which is experienced so deeply that the patient often misinterprets normal bodily experiences as evidence of their having a serious disease. Somatization Disorder and Conversion...More