[Astasia-abasia: psychogenic and non-psychogenic causes].
Astasia-abasia is defined as the inability to stand and to walk, despite sparing of motor function underlying the required balance and gestures. Initially, astasia-abasia was considered a psychogenic gait disorder, but later on, the description of "high-order" gait disorders mimicking this pure functional deficit led authors to refer to "astasia-abasia" as a pure descriptive term, without a presupposed etiological or anatomical substrate. In this paper, the main clinical characteristics of both psychogenic and non-psychogenic astasia-abasia are presented and discussed.
Vercueil
L
L
Pôle de psychiatrie et de neurologie, CHU de Grenoble, 38043 Grenoble cedex 9, France. LVercueil@chu-grenoble.fr
D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D054022:Cerebrum / Q000473:pathology; D003291:Conversion Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D011187:Posture; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology