Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of the study was to develop an indigenous symptom checklist of conversion disorder which would be representative of the Pakistani population.
Research Design: The inductive approach for constructing psychological tools.
Sample and Method: A list of 127 presenting complaints of patients with conversion disorder was collected from 41 clinical psychologists and psychiatrists. This list was then administered on 635 patients with conversion disorder (542 females and 93 males) presenting at 14 psychiatric facilities in Lahore, Pakistan. For test-retest reliability 50 patients with conversion disorder were administered the checklist on 1st, 3rd and 14th day of their admissions in Department of Psychiatry, Services hospital, Lahore, Pakistan.For discriminant validity, a sample of 100 patients presenting at Department of Dermatology, Services Hospital was compared with 193 patients at Department of Psychiatry, Services Hospital,Lahore.
Results: Factor Analysis was run using varimax rotation and kaisar normalization which reduced the list into five factors and 75 items. The reliability coefficient ranged from.58 to.84 significant at p Less than.01. The independent samples t-test showed significant difference in both the groups significant at p Greater than.001.
Conclusion: The present study has provided with a preliminary tool. However, more research needs to be done to conduct confirmatory factor analysis which would also enhance the psychometric properties of the checklist.
Key words: Conversion disorder; symptoms checklist; factor analysis INTRODUCTION Conversion disorder is the new name designated to hysteria. It has perhaps the longest recorded history among all psychiatric disorders, spread over 4000 years. The earliest explanations of conversion disorder focused on gynecological and neurological themes. Later Freud put forward a psychological etiology which was very different from the gynecological and neurological explanations ,. He outlined a psychological etiology in hysterical conversion originating from the conflicts of the unconscious mind. This psychological model also helped pave the path towards a new psychological approach in the treatment of conversion disorder. So far the Freudian explanation of conversion disorder has been the most influential one.
The other well documented accounts of conversion disorder have focused on behavioral and socio-cultural perspectives. For instance, the behavioral explanation focuses on the role of reinforcement in the maintenance of symptoms of conversion disorder. The socio-cultural perspective focuses more on the milieu that prevails in societies and holds...