Research Article: Asserting a Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder with a Complementary Diagnostic Approach: A Brief Report
Abstract:
Introduction: Functional neurological symptom disorder (FNSD) is a common diagnosis among adolescents. However, we feel it is a difficult diagnosis to assess because of the diversity of its clinical manifestations, the rapid changes in its nosography over the years, and its common imbrication with established somatic diagnoses. We would like to illustrate this hypothesis through a case presentation and the original diagnostic process that emerged from it. Methods: We chose to present our diagnosis approach through the case of an 11-year-old boy who showed a progressive loss of motor and sensory function to the point of total dependency, and then suddenly switched between this state and a “normal” physical presentation, while deliriously claiming to be an angel. Results: All possible infectious, autoimmune, metabolic, and toxic disorders were ruled out. After the successive therapeutic failures of antidepressants and neuroleptics, FNSD was diagnosed. Conclusion: The DSM-5-TR classification was insufficient to explain the full clinical picture and a complementary approach (biblical, psychoanalytical, and historical) was used to analyze the cause of this atypical presentation.
Introduction:
Conversion disorders, referred to as hysterical neurosis conversion type in earlier editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual [1], were assigned the name of functional neurological symptom disorders in the latest (5th) edition, which classified them as part of the “Somatic symptom and related disorders.” These all share a common feature: “the prominence of somatic symptoms associated with significant distress and impairment” [2]. The somatic expression of psychological disorders are one of the leading…
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