OBJECTIVE To review the clinical characteristics and associated features found in patients with psychogenic dystonia. METHODS A 10 year retrospective chart review of all patients diagnosed by the author as having psychogenic dystonia. RESULTS Eighteen patients fulfilled diagnostic criteria for "Documented" or "Clinically Established" psychogenic dystonia. Clinical characteristics of the dys...

MEDICINE & HEALTH/RHODE ISLAND Some of these disorders have physiological correlates, changes in fMRI or other measures of brain activity. Some may not have been studied. And if a physiological correlate were found who’s to say what’s chicken and what’s egg? While I am sure there are several questions that can be asked concerning classification of these syndromes, one is, what’s the difference ...

This study reviewed the case notes of 52 children diagnosed as suffering from hysterical conversion during admission to a paediatric teaching hospital over a 10 year period. The disorder was rare below 8 years of age and girls outnumbered boys three to one. Altogether 75% of the children presented during spring and summer; at the time of end of year exams and the beginning of the new school yea...

Clonidine, an alpha agonist, formally prescribed in clinical medicine as antihypertensive medication, is currently being used more frequently to address a multitude of psychiatric entities. The long-acting formulation is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in treating the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In addition to this only legitimate indication, it has long been ...

Dystonia is a movement disorder characterized by sustained muscle contractions causing twisting and repetitive movements and abnormal postures. Diagnosing dystonia may be difficult, because of variability of dystonia presentation, uncertain recognition of the specific clinical signs, wide etiological spectrum, and coexistence of other movement disorders. The major difficulties in the diagnostic...

We sought to ascertain the importance of psychological manifestations of vertigo and psychogenic vertigo among a Portuguese population. Sixty patients complaining of vertigo and imbalance were studied over a 2-year period. At each assessment, the patients underwent a general examination, a neurootological evaluation, psychiatric interviews, and psychopathological assessments conducted by a mult...

Water intoxication is a rare condition characterised by overconsumption of water. It can occur in athletes engaging in endurance sports, users of MDMA (ecstasy), and patients receiving total parenteral nutrition. This case outlines water intoxication in a patient with psychogenic polydipsia. When the kidney's capacity to compensate for exaggerated water intake is exceeded, hypotonic hyperhydrat...

A disorder of infants and children with pathological startle response, features of other system involvement, falls, and stiffness with retained consciousness. It should be differentiated from conditions such as myoclonic epilepsy, psychogenic movement disorder, Isaac syndrome, Schwartz-Jampel syndrome, Gilles de la Tourette, and culture-specific startle syndromes such as jumping Frenchman of Ma...

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) is an unusual diagnosis in the pediatric age group. It is a syndrome characterized by pain in one or more extremities with a significant morbidity in childhood. Patients with RSD have frequently undergone many unnecessary investigations such that the diagnosis and treatment may be considerably delayed. The pathophysiology remains unclear; however, a number of ...

We encountered 6 rare cases of acute-onset unilateral psychogenic hearing loss in adults. All were women in their 20s and 30s. Three cases had severe hearing impairment characterized by hearing loss at every frequency; 2 cases had profound hearing impairment, and 1 case had low-frequency hearing impairment. Of the 6 cases, 3 had a history of hearing loss, and 1 had a history of psychogenic visu...