Conversion disorder, sometimes called functional neurological symptom disorder, is when an individual experiences symptoms related to certain functions like blindness, paralysis, and even seizures, but they don’t have a medical explanation or cause behind them. It is thought that people with conversion disorders are triggered due to neurological changes brought about by other mental health disorders. This article will review conversion disorder treatment options for those who are struggling.
Understanding Conversion Disorder
Conversion disorder is a condition that results in many sensory problems. Sometimes referred to as functional neurological system disorder, it can cause things like blindness, numbness, paralysis, and seizures. Many people believe that this can be caused by mental health issues, resulting in a change in neurological function. This purported change can cause symptoms even if there is no underlying neurologic pathway to support the symptoms.
Conversion Disorder Treatment Approaches
Your approach to treatment with conversion disorder is highly individualized, helping you to tackle any underlying mental health issues that might be contributing to your current symptoms while also changing your relationship with them.
Goals of Treatment for Conversion Disorder
When you first reach out for help, you’ll start by setting individual goals for treatment based on the things that are manifesting for you, paying particular attention to therapy and medication that help with individual symptoms.
Challenges in Treating Conversion Disorder
One of the big challenges behind treating conversion disorder is that a functional neurologic disorder does not have any standard tests for a diagnosis. The diagnosis is typically made based on the symptoms that are currently present and the patterns of symptoms in the past.
Psychological Therapies for Conversion Disorder Treatment
Psychological therapies are some of the most important treatment options for individuals and their families. The therapy that works best for you will be based entirely on your case, such as speech therapy to deal with language problems, physical therapy to deal with muscle tightness or paralysis, as well as psychotherapy to deal with the underlying mental health conditions.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most prominent forms of treatment for conversion disorder as far as psychotherapies are concerned. With cognitive behavioral therapy, you work with a therapist to become more aware of negative thought patterns that you have, which are automatic, happening without you even realizing it.
By recognizing these negative automatic thought patterns, you can become more aware of how you actually look at situations and respond to them. Learning about how your automatic negative thoughts might control automatic responses or emotions can help you better manage stressful symptoms in a more positive way. All of this can contribute to a better response to things that might otherwise lead to conversion disorder symptoms.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy can be particularly useful for individuals who present with conversion disorder and have a history of trauma, abuse, or interpersonal problems. Psychodynamic therapy can be very effective when you need to better understand underlying conflicts from your past or present that are manifesting as the physical symptoms of your conversion disorder.
With this type of therapy, it’s assumed that the symptoms of your conversion disorder are a representation of traumatic experiences or repressed emotions from your past that haven’t been processed in a healthy way. So, by working with a therapist, you can better identify those unresolved issues, increase your self-awareness, and find healthy coping strategies to manage them so that you can reduce your symptoms.
Hypnotherapy
In some cases, your conversion disorder treatments might extend to hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy has been found to help people improve motor disabilities and behavioral symptoms, especially when used in conjunction with psychodynamic therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy.
Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Therapies
Mindfulness and acceptance-based therapies are useful in helping individuals change the way they live with conversion disorder. By changing your perception or relationship to the disorder and being non-judgmental and accepting of your symptoms, you’ll put yourself in a position to improve your quality of life, your mood, and your symptoms.
Mindfulness works well when used in conjunction with any of these as it can help you be more mindful, stay in the present moment, and focus on reducing stress, including anxiety and depression, by being present.
Conversion Disorder Treatment Medication Options
There are no specific medications approved for conversion disorder. However, there are some medication options that can be prescribed based on individual symptoms.
Medications for Anxiety and Depression
For some people, medications like antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications might be prescribed to deal with secondary symptoms associated with conversion disorder, like high levels of anxiety or depression. These levels of anxiety or depression are often secondary manifestations that accompany issues like paralysis, muscle spasms, blindness, or numbness.
Role of Anticonvulsants in Treating Seizure-Like Symptoms
For other people, anticonvulsant medication might be prescribed specifically to treat seizure-like symptoms, and these can help reduce the physical symptoms, while things like psychotherapy can help reduce the emotional symptoms.
Limitations and Cautions of Using Medication in Conversion Disorder Treatment
Again, at present, there are no approved medications for conversion disorder, which means there will be limitations to any medication that is used as part of your treatment as it will not treat the condition itself, but it can treat secondary or tertiary symptoms.
These should not be used on their own for the reasons listed above; instead, they should be used in conjunction with a therapy plan and mindfulness activities to support overall wellness.
Seeking Professional Help and Forming a Treatment Plan
As is the case with any condition, it is essential that individuals who are considering conversion disorder treatments seek professional help to create a personalized plan, track progress, and adjust treatment accordingly.
Personalizing the Treatment Plan
Not all conversion disorder treatment medication options or therapy options will be the right fit for individual goals or challenges. As such, a key element to successful treatments for conversion disorder is to have a personalized treatment plan that takes into account things like preferences, history of medication or therapy, and goals.
By working with a professional mental health provider, you can find a professional who helps you discover personalized treatment for conversion disorder and make adjustments accordingly.
Tracking Progress and Adjusting Treatment
Why do adjustments matter?
Someone who is struggling with conversion disorder needs to find a way to tackle the current symptoms as well as the underlying mental health condition that may have contributed to the symptoms.
For this to be successful, it’s important to work with a professional who can help you track your progress, monitor the efficacy of different conversion disorder treatments, and make changes where needed.
These changes might be a different therapist if the one you have isn’t currently a good fit, a change to medication after the first several months with no progress, or other lifestyle modifications that can support the changes achieved in therapy.
Summing Up
Overall, there are several effective therapies and techniques available for conversion disorder treatment, including things like anticonvulsants to treat seizure-like symptoms, medication for anxiety or depression, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy, hypnotherapy, and other mindfulness-based programs.
If you are struggling with symptoms of conversion disorder or someone close to you is, it’s important that you and your family seek professional guidance and explore personalized conversion disorder treatment options.
