Anxiety symptoms in patients with conversion disorder

Objective: to determine the frequency of anxiety symptoms in patients with conversion disorder. methodology: this cross sectional study was conducted in department of psychiatry,khalifa gul nawaz hospital bannu from august 2014 - march 2015. sixty consecutive indoor patients of conversion disorder,diagnosed on the basis of icd-10 criteria were assessed in detail. a semi-structured interview was conducted for demographic details. results: among sixty indoor patients,52 (86.6%) were females,thirty six (66%) unmarried and more than 80% (n=50) were uneducated. similarly,about 89% (n=54) belonged to the age range between 10 and 30 years. large majority (n=56,93.3%) were residing in the rural areas. all patients (100%) reported somatic anxiety symptoms along with clinical presentation of conversion disorder. most common symptoms reported were feelings of being light and weak (n=59,98.3%),followed by palpitation (n=58,96.6%). conclusion: patients with conversion disorder need to be assessed in detail for somatic anxiety symptoms in order to improve upon intervention strategies in this common psychiatric disorder. © 2015,postgraduate medical institute. all rights reserved.