title: [Neuropsychological assessment in conversion disorder].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Conversion disorder is characterized by functional impairment in motor, sensory, or neurovegetative systems that cannot be explained by a general medical condition. Diagnostic systems emphasize the absence of an organic basis for the dysfunction observed in conversion disorder. Nevertheless, there is a growing body of data on the specific functional brain correlates of conversion symptoms, particularly those obtained via neuroimaging and neurophysiological assessment. The present study aimed to determine if there are differences in measures of cognitive functioning between patients with conversion disorder and healthy controls. The hypothesis of the study was that the patients with conversion disorder would have poorer neurocognitive performance than the controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patient group included 43 patients diagnosed as conversion disorder and other psychiatric comorbidities according to DSM-IV-TR. Control group 1 included 44 patients diagnosed with similar psychiatric comorbidities, but not conversion diosorder, and control group 2 included 43 healthy individuals. All participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and were administered the SCID-I and a neuropsychological test battery of 6 tests, including the Serial Digit Learning Test (SDLT), Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), Wechsler Memory Scale, Stroop Color Word Interference Test, Benton Judgment of Line Orientation Test (BJLOT), and Cancellation Test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patient group had significantly poorer performance on the SDLT, AVLT, Stroop Color Word Interference Test, and BJLOT than both control groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings highlight the differences between the groups in learning and memory, executive and visuospatial functions, and attention, which seemed to be specific to conversion disorder.
authors.affiliation: Diyarbakir Education and Research Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Diyarbakir, Turkey. drsuleymandemir@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Süleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Demır
authors.forename: Feryal Çam
authors.initials: FÇ
authors.lastname: Çelıkel
authors.forename: Serap Erdoğan
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Taycan
authors.forename: İlker
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Etıkan
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003291:Conversion Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires