Focus: Languages, methods, and clinical reflections
Vol. 36 No. 3 (2025)
Past, present, and future of conversion disorders: toward a neuropsychological redefinition of the body-brain-mind unity
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Published: 23 December 2025
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Conversion disorders have accompanied the history of medicine since the time of Hippocrates, and only with Charcot, Freud, and Breuer were they “codified”: hysterical symptoms do not have direct organic causes but represent the somatisation of a profound psychic disorder, originating from a traumatic event inaccessible to the patient’s awareness. More than a hundred years have passed since these definitions. Conversion disorder seems to have “converted” into new symptoms, making it necessary both to redefine it hermeneutically and to reconsider it from a broader perspective – one informed not only by recent neuroscientific discoveries but, above all, by the new implications and comprehensive theoretical frameworks these developments entail. By reconstructing the historical and social context of the various definitions and manifestations of conversion disorder, and by drawing a parallel with psychosomatic disorders and pathologies, a unified “borderline” interpretation is proposed here for both. What clearly emerges is a single body-brain system from which an embodied mind arises. Conversion disorder can thus be reinterpreted as a “message” concerning the individual’s condition, “without their awareness”, and psychoanalysis, understood as a “talking cure”, may be the means to uncover and comprehend an interrupted body-brain-mind dialogue.
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How to Cite
Past, present, and future of conversion disorders: toward a neuropsychological redefinition of the body-brain-mind unity. (2025). Ricerca Psicoanalitica, 36(3). https://doi.org/10.4081/rp.2025.1047
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