Meaning Making in Conversion Disorder
Conversion disorder, or as it is currently named, a Functional Neurological Disorder, is a debilitating and complicated disorder.
With a contemporary understanding of stress system disorders in neuropsychophysiology these symptoms and the associated disorders are being re-examined to better understand aetiology and treatment possibilities.
This presentation is highlighting part of an overarching, collaborative, mixed methods study on conversion disorder being conducted by the Westmead Psychotherapy Program that takes an integrative relational neuroscience approach.
The patient narratives of the emergence of symptoms and the process of recovery collected during the study are analysed qualitatively, coding via a systematic approach to the phenomenon of interest.
This qualitative exploration of conversion disorder hopes to help reduce the stigma associated with the disorder and offer hope for the future. It also hopes to mainstream ideas around stress regulation and dysregulation, both empowering consumers to develop strategies for recovery and decreasing persistent notions around a Descartian body-mind divide.
