Therapy
In a way, the therapy of hysteria begins with the first contact. Usually conversion disorders are only discovered after months and the consultation of all possible specialists. The reason for this is often that the suspicion that the patient’s suffering is “only psychological” causes the person seeking advice to feel neither understood nor taken seriously.
For this reason it is important to approach the patient only cautiously about this possibility and to choose the right words for it. The patient must not feel that he or she is “to blame for the illness”. In addition, the medical history of the hysteria should not only ask about the nature of the physical symptoms, but also about possible current problems or, for example, a psychiatric history.
If there is a justified suspicion of conversion disorders, specialists such as psychiatrists must be involved in the process of diagnosis and therapy in good time. In the best case, nothing is concealed from the patient. The choice of words is particularly important, as is a trusting relationship between doctor and patient.
Many patients who have not been helped for a long time are actually relieved when they are finally given a diagnosis. The therapy consists mainly of psychotherapy, i.e. therapeutic conversation. Behavioral therapy, which attempts to train positive behaviors, is also used. Medication, such as antidepressants, should, if at all, only be prescribed temporarily and then only if the patient is depressed.
