Teenage Girls in Rural New York: A Case of Conversion Disorder
I focus in this article on the case of 20 high school girls in Le Roy, New York, who in 2011-2012 manifested neurological symptoms leading to the official diagnosis of conversion disorder. I employ articles by investigative reporters (Dominus ; Hass ; Jackson ; Perry ), a mental health expert (Raiss...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science Business Media B. V.
2015
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| In: |
Pastoral psychology
Year: 2015, Volume: 64, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-19 |
| IxTheo Classification: | HC New Testament ZD Psychology |
| Further subjects: | B
Jesus
B Sigmund Freud B Self-discovery B PSYCHOLOGY of teenage girls B AMERICAN Medical Association B Jairus's daughter B Mental Health B RURAL geography B Recovery B conversion disorder B New York (N.Y.) B Stress |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | I focus in this article on the case of 20 high school girls in Le Roy, New York, who in 2011-2012 manifested neurological symptoms leading to the official diagnosis of conversion disorder. I employ articles by investigative reporters (Dominus ; Hass ; Jackson ; Perry ), a mental health expert (Raisson ), and the report of the investigation conducted by the New York State Department of Health () to provide a general introduction to the case and, more specifically, the grounds for the diagnosis of conversion disorder. Then I introduce the diagnostic criteria for conversion disorder presented and discussed in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Medical Association ) and make particular note of the fact that a prominent characteristic of conversion disorder is that the somatic symptoms may represent a symbolic resolution of an unconscious psychological conflict, thus reducing anxiety but also serving to keep this conflict out of awareness. Finally, I present in abbreviated form my analysis of the biblical case of Jairus's daughter (Capps , pp. 105-131) as one of conversion disorder and consider its implications for the Le Roy girls' prospects for a full recovery. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6679 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Pastoral psychology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s11089-013-0546-4 |