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Conversion pain

  • The Vicissitudes of Hysteria
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Abstract

Symbolic pain is currently the most commonly diagnosed conversion neurosis. Like other conversion symptoms, it is usually interpreted as a defense against anxiety or as a compromise solution of unconscious conflict. These negative interpretations deny the essential validity of the pain and their application tends to provoke negative reactions to psychotherapy.

This paper presents a positive, expressive interpretation that holds the symptom to be a symbolic somatic representation of depression, defined as psychic pain, the mechanism of symptom-formation being a simple displacement of psychic pain to the soma. This interpretation provides a theoretical framework for accepting the positive legitimacy of the patient's complaint and, thereby, a mutually acceptable basis for psychotherapeutic intervention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Georgia, 30902, Augusta, Georgia

    E. James McCranie M.D. (Professor and Chairman)

Authors
  1. E. James McCranie M.D.
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McCranie, E.J. Conversion pain. Psych Quar 47, 246–257 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01562230

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01562230

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