Imagine being in a crowded public place when suddenly your arms and legs stop working. You are paralyzed — frozen in place and unable to move — for no apparent reason. This is just one example of a conversion disorder, when a person experiences temporary physical symptoms like blindness or paralysis with no physical cause.
Sometimes, a traumatic experience can be so all-consuming that it impacts your physical health in drastic ways. This is where conversion disorders come into play. By going into treatment to resolve your trauma, you may finally get relief from these unexpected physical events.
Causes of Conversion Disorders
It is believed that a conversion disorder is a physical response to mental, physical, or psychological trauma. The symptoms may include shaking, paralysis, or double vision. For example, you could start shaking after witnessing something traumatic, even though nothing physically has happened to you.
Triggers could be stressful events, emotional or physical trauma, or changes in brain function. The exact cause is different depending on the person. Sometimes, you may not know what the trigger is until a therapist identifies it for you.
Complications of Conversion Disorders
The symptoms of conversion disorders can negatively impact your life. Blindness or paralysis, even if temporary, can have a major impact on your normal routine and stop you from doing activities that you enjoy. You may be afraid to drive yourself or be alone.
In addition to your quality of life, conversion disorders can also affect your career and your relationships. Some symptoms, such as seizures, can even become permanent if they happen too frequently. This is why it’s important to get treatment as soon as possible.
Treatment for Conversion Disorders
The first part of treatment is to find the underlying cause of why you are experiencing these symptoms. A show on Netflix titled Never Have I Ever recently tackled this issue, when the main character unexpectedly lost her father and the trauma led her to temporarily being wheelchair-bound.
Once she found distractions from the trauma, she got the use of her legs back. Treatment will teach you coping mechanisms to relieve as much of the emotional stress and trauma as possible. Finding ways to alleviate triggers can also help eliminate the physical symptoms.
You can try relaxation techniques like yoga, treating underlying mental health disorders like depression, seeking support from your loved ones, and more. Delaying treatment for your symptoms can lead to further complications and increase the chances that your symptoms will become permanent. Don’t put off healing your trauma for too long, so you can live the healthy life you deserve.
Confronting your trauma may be a difficult step in the process of trauma recovery, but it is a very important one. At The Guest House, you do not have to wait to develop a conversion disorder to receive help. Our highly-trained therapists are here for you and will work to find the source of your trauma through individualized and group therapy, psychodrama, somatic therapy, equine therapy, art therapy, cinema therapy, and other proven methods. We are here for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To learn more, call us now at (855) 483-7800.