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- Title
Teenage Girls in Rural New York: A Case of Conversion Disorder.
- Authors
Capps, Donald
- Abstract
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.
- Subjects
NEW York (N.Y.); PSYCHOLOGY of teenage girls; RURAL geography; CONVERSION disorder; MENTAL health; AMERICAN Medical Association
- Publication
Pastoral Psychology, 2015, Vol 64, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
0031-2789
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11089-013-0546-4