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Conversion Without Hysteria: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Arieh Shalev  and
Hanan Munitz
Arieh Shalev*
Affiliation:
Gehah Psychiatric Hospital, Beilinson Medical Centre, Petah Tiqva and Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel
Hanan Munitz
Affiliation:
Gehah Psychiatric Hospital, and Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine
*
∗Gehah Psychiatric Hospital, Beilinson Medical Centre, Petah Tiqva 49 100, Israel
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Abstract

The term ‘conversion’ implies a correlation between conversion symptoms, hysteria, and hysterical personality. A clinical case of conversion related to chronic post-traumatic disorder, with paranoid features, was successfully treated by anti-psychotic drugs; it illustrates the non-specific nature of conversion symptoms. Mechanic's concept of ‘illness behaviour’ is a frame-work that meets the need for a broader understanding of conversion symptoms.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 148 , Issue 2 , February 1986 , pp. 198 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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