Evaluation of women with diagnosis of conversion disorder through projective tests with a focus on libidinalization and object relations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychic world of women who have a diagnosis of Conversion Disorder by focusing particularly on object relations and libidinalization processes. By reviewing the current literature on the conversion symptom, which has traditionally been associated with hysterical neurosis; it was aimed to research the functioning of the drives, the quality of object relationships, the quality of feminine representations, and the representations about the self image of the women who have this diagnosis. With these purposes, 8 women who have been diagnosed with Conversion Disorder in the last 6 months were taken on semi-structured interviews, and then the Rorschach and the Thematic Apperception Test were administered on them. The projective test results have been analyzed by the French School system which involves content analysis. According to the results of the study, the object relationships of the women is found to be crytallized around archaic persecutory anxieties. The quality of the representations of the femininity were also negative, if not persecutory. In addition to that, self representations of the women were mostly narcissistically fragile. This result is also revealing of the prediction that the protective shield; which is usually gained throughout the pre-oedipal object relations, is not strong enough to meet the excitations caused by the drives. In order to investigate this prediction, the libidinalisation process; which refers to functioning of drives is investigated. Participants were unable to process the libidinal, as well as the aggressive drive within the psyche by using proper defense mechanisms. Out of all these findings, it was thought that the conversion symptom might be some kind of a bodily acting out.