Psychogenic dystonia

Abstract

Psychogenic movement disorders pose a complex problem inmodern neurology that requires using the interdisciplinary approachto solve a number of questions related to classification, diagnosis,treatment, and rehabilitation. The most frequent formsof psychogenic movement disorders include tremor, dystonia,myoclonus, and gait abnormality. A clinical case of a 46-yearoldmale patient with psychogenic movement disorder presentingas fixed hand dystonia not accompanied by pain is reported.The terminology issues related to the most accurate determinationof this type of hyperkinesis, as well as clinical tests (standardmotor-skill tasks, ballpoint pen writing) that allow one to identifythe psychogenic nature of hyperkinesis, are discussed using theexample provided. The clinical phenomenology of psychogenicdystonia is thoroughly analyzed and the differential diagnosticcriteria of psychogenic and primary (idiopathic) dystonia are presented.

Keywords

• psychogenic movement disorders
• conversion disorder
• psychogenic dystonia
• idiopathic dystonia
• differential diagnosis