I Can´t Hear and I´m Not Deaf: Can anyone explain it to me?

Abstract

Conversion disorders are defined by symptoms that suggest neurologic etiology not detected in the medical examination. It´s proposed that psychological and external variables are important in the genesis and the maintenance of this disorder. The aims of this work are: 1) to define conversion disorders in childhood, 2) to describe a clinical case and its psychological treatment, comparing it with the characteristics described in literature reviewed.The patient is a 10-year-old girl diagnosed of Conversion Disorders after rejecting an organic etiology for explaining the deafness she had for a two-year period. A cochlear implant was suggested as the next medical intervention. The symptoms observed in the patient and the design of psychological intervention are the same as studies reviewed described. Although there are only a few systematic studies about Conversion disorders in childhood, most of them emphasize the role of the environmental and internal variables to conceptualize these symptoms and to design the intervention. The majority of studies on Conversion disorders in children are based in a cognitive-behavioural and integrative approach (including the patient’s family and the school); which it is mainly focused on the emotional and parental variables that may be involved in the maintenance of this psychopathology.