Story #5. Psychosomatic Conversion Disorder in Children
By Dr. Jorina Elbers, MD
I’m a Child Neurologist, and have been seeing children with psychosomatic symptoms for 6 years. I have seen children with symptoms including non-epileptic seizures, weakness, blindness, unstready gait, migraines, dizziness and sensory disturbances, with no underlying medical explanation. With the proper education and support these children have had full recoveries.
As a child neurologist, I have developed a particular interest in psychosomatic illness. I truly believe that these children need as much support and rehabilitation as any child with an underlying structural brain or nerve problem. The difficulty is, many physicians still don’t recognize psychosomatic illness for what it really is, and many children undergo test after test, and procedure after procedure, with no answers. I have found that once a family is given some information about psychosomatic symptoms, most of them will recognize this as occurring in their child, and be open to the proper treatment and support.
I hope you find the information provided helpful. This information is entirely from my own experience, with which I have had good success. It may not reflect the opinion of physicians elsewhere.
