FAHEEM KHAN, MUKESH BHIMANI, TAYYAB ARFEEN, MUHAMMAD ZAMAN

285-288

Download

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To explore the symptoms of conversion disorder in children and young adults admitted in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi.

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive retrospective study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Psychiatry, Aga Khan University hospital Karachi. Case note review of all records from January 1990 to December 2009 i.e. 20 years.

METHODOLOGY: We performed a case note review of all patients less than 25 years of age who had been admitted with a diagnosis of conversion disorder over a 20-year period.

RESULTS: A total of 121 case notes were reviewed out of which there were 87 females and 34 males. Motor symptoms were seen in 34.7% (n=42), followed by pseudo seizures in 24.8% (n=30) and unresponsiveness in 14% (n=17) of the patients.

CONCLUSION: Children and young patients who were diagnosed with conversion disorder presents with variable symptoms. Like similar studies from the other countries motor symptoms were most common. The differences in presentation, stressors and duration of illness in this study enunciated a call to explore these phenomena in prospective study design.

 

KEYWORDS: Conversion disorder, Mental health, Children & Adolescence, Dissociative disorder, descriptive studies.