Review article
https://doi.org/10.31299/hrri.52.2.9
Motor conversion disorder in children and adolescents: clinical features and rehabilitation treatment
Ewa Domka
; The Child and Adolescent Neurological Rehabilitation Department¹, at the Clinical Regional Centre for Rehabilitation and Education for Children and Youth, Clinical Hospital No. 2, University of Rzeszów
Elżbieta Jopek
; Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rzeszów
Abstract
Motor conversion disorder (CD) is a rare but very severe medical problem in children and adolescents. It often causes a risk of long-term disability, social restrictions, educational problems, increased psychiatric morbidity such as anxiety and depression, and the symptoms of pain and fatigue. Proper diagnosis and treatment coupled with strict compliance on the part of the patient and his family during therapy have a major impact on quick recovery. The most effective way of curing motor CD is to introduce simultaneously a multimodal treatment consisting of individual and family psychotherapy, education, physiotherapy procedures based on modifi ed behavioral principles, and pharmacology for co-morbid anxiety and depression disorders. A necessary condition for therapeutic success is to convince the child’s parents that the symptoms are psychogenic. This helps to gain their best cooperation. As conversion disorders are usually associated with a signifi cant burden for the child, family, and the health care system, we decided to draw attention in this article to the importance of multimodal rehabilitation procedures in motor CD treatment in order to achieve optimal therapeutic results.
Keywords
motor conversion disorders; children; adolescents; rehabilitation
Hrčak ID:
171458
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2016.
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