The demographics, clinical characteristics, treatment methods, and responses in the patients with conversion disorder who visited Chungbuk National University Hospital were investigated to assess the characteristics of conversion disorder in Cheongju and Chungbuk area and to have some implications about the treatment. Seventy-three patients with conversion disorder diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria were recruited from MAR, 1996 to FEB, 1997. The subjects consist of twenty-three males and fifty females. The patients in their third and forth decades was 60.6% of all. On educational levels, the subjects of 89.0% were below collegian. The subjects of 87.6% were in the middle and lou7 economical states. Their occupations were housewife(39.7%), students(15.1%) and etc. The subjects of 83.6% showed improvement of symptoms, and there was no significant differences in types of symptoms, premorbid personality, and treatment responses according to their sex and occupations. However housewives had significantly more spouse and family problems for the precipitating factors. Students had more future
problems, and professionals had various kinds of precipitating factors.
This study showed the same result as previous studies carried out in domestic or other country in that conversion disorder is prevalent in female, middle and low classes of economical status, and low educational levels. These results are compatible with the notion that the precipitating factors of conversion symptoms are variable along with the specific cultural environment, but conversion disorder itself is the behavioral response to the repression of wishfulfillment or verbal communication by intrinsic or extrinsic factors regardless of time and space.
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