Objectives: The most common motor deficits in patients with conversion disorder are tremors, weakness of limbsand gait disturbance. The proper diagnosis and treatment aswell as the patient and their family's cooperation during therapy are essential to achieve fast recovery. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of multidisciplinary interventions successfully applied in the treatment of conversion disorders in children, illustrated with an example of a case study.
Methods: Case report: The 9 years old boy, with trembling of the limbs, trunk ataxia, impaired balance, and significant disability in self-locomotion, caused by conversion disorders, was admitted to stationary rehabilitation treatment because of the lack of progress in the current, four-month treatment, which consisted of hydroxyzin administration and irregular psychotherapy. Behavioural modifications in rehabilitation, individual psychotherapy, family counselling and psychoeducation, and sertralinepharmacologicaltreatmentwereimplemented at the same time. Particular attention was paid to obtain the parents'approval for multidisciplinary therapy, considering that the previous treatment was ineffective because of parents being unconvinced about psychogenic causes of symptoms. They were focused on over diagnosing the child's symptoms making it difficult to manage the proper treatment.
Results: After a three-week period of comprehensive treatment the patient recovered completely and returned to independent mobility and social functioning relative to his age.
Conclusions: The simultaneous implementation of multi-profile treatment is an effective approach in children motor conversion disorders. In order to achieve therapeutic success it is necessary to convince the parents about the psychogenic ground of the symptoms and a need of multi-profile treatment.
Keywords: children; motor conversion disorder; multidisciplinary treatment approach.