An update on psychogenic movement disorders

Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2011 Aug;11(4):396-403. doi: 10.1007/s11910-011-0205-z.

Abstract

Psychogenic movement disorders (PMD) and other conversion disorders (CD) with apparent neurologic signs (neurologic CD) plague patients and perplex physicians. Due to a lack of objective evidence of underlying brain lesions, CD were largely abandoned by neurologists and remained poorly understood psychiatric diagnoses throughout most of the 20th century. Modern neuroscience now supports increasingly comprehensive biological models for these complex disorders, definitively establishing their place in both neurology and psychiatry. Although it is often clinically useful to distinguish a movement disorder as either "organic" or "psychogenic," this dichotomy is difficult to defend scientifically. Here we describe the neuroimaging and neurophysiologic evidence for dysfunctional neural networks in PMD, explain the diagnostic potential of clinical neurophysiologic testing, discuss the promising if increasingly complex role of neuropsychiatric genetics, and review current treatment strategies.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Conversion Disorder / physiopathology
  • Conversion Disorder / psychology*
  • Conversion Disorder / therapy
  • Humans
  • Mental Disorders
  • Models, Neurological
  • Movement Disorders / physiopathology
  • Movement Disorders / psychology*
  • Movement Disorders / therapy
  • Nervous System Diseases / physiopathology
  • Nervous System Diseases / psychology*
  • Nervous System Diseases / therapy
  • Neurology
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
  • Psychiatry