Conversion: Defense mechanisms by Sigmund Freud
Description Conversion is a defense mechanism, whereby the anxiety caused by repressed impulses and feelings are ‘converted’ into a physical complaint. The symptom may well be symbolic and dramatic and it often acts as a communication about the situation. Extreme symptoms may include paralysis, blindness, deafness, becoming mute or having a seizure. Lesser symptoms include tiredness, headaches and twitches. This phenomenon is sometimes called hysteria . Freud Example Freud observed this physical manifestation of anxieties in clients such as Dora, who complained of a cough, losing her voice and feelings resembling appendicitis. Upon investigation, Freud attributed her cough to fixation during the oral stage of psychosexual development, and linked her appendicitis to a “childbirth fantasy”. Examples A person's arm becomes suddenly paralyzed after they have been threatening to hit someone else. A woman witnesses her spouse engaging in an affair and converts the anxiety of seeing that ...