Caloric Vestibular Stimulation as a Treatment for Conversion Disorder

Conversion disorder is a medical condition in which a person has paralysis, blindness, or other neurological symptoms that cannot be clearly explained physiologically. To date, there is neither specific nor conclusive treatment. In this paper, we draw together a number of disparate pieces of knowledge to propose a novel intervention to provide transient alleviation for this condition. As caloric vestibular stimulation has been demonstrated to modulate a variety of cognitive functions associated with brain activations, especially in the temporal-parietal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and insular cortex, there is evidence to assume an effect in specific mental disorders. Therefore, we go on to hypothesize that lateralized cold vestibular caloric stimulation will be effective in treating conversion disorder and we present provisional evidence from one patient that supports this conclusion. If our hypothesis is correct, this will be the first time in psychiatry and neurology that a clinically well-known mental disorder, long considered difficult to understand and to treat, is relieved by a simple or common, non-invasive medical procedure

Anterior cingulate cortex · Audiology · Brain stimulation · Caloric theory · Cognition · Conversion disorder · Deep brain stimulation · Intervention (counseling · Physical medicine and rehabilitation · Psychiatry · Sensory system · Stimulation · Vestibular system · Cardiovascular Syncope and Autonomic Disorders · Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Vestibular and auditory disorders · Internal Medicine · Neurology

• Anosognosia in Parietal Lobe Syndrome

  Open Access•V S Ramachandran•Consciousness and Cognition•1995

  Add to list