Healing Conversion Disorder Podcast

While this interview was done a couple of years ago, the information is still relevant to Conversion Disorder today.  With the news of assisted suicide in Canada, where a woman found no way out of conversion disorder, I thought the time is right to highlight this interview again.  There is hope.  Don't ever give up!

I know of others that have been through this and found their way out.  In fact, I was one of those that went through Conversion Disorder with paralysis and pseudo-seizures, among many other things.  At the time, I could not piece everything together as to what caused it, but in time the story began to emerge.

This video interview podcast is a discussion I had with Dr. Paul Canali of the Evolutionary Healing Institute in Miami, Florida.  He is a pioneer in the treatment of trauma and helping people recover their lives from the inside-out.  Dr. Canali has been instrumental in helping me fully recover and several others that have been through Conversion Disorder.

I have hosted the podcast and more information on a another website I run, so please check it out. There is some excellent information in here that you most likely have not heard presented in the way that it is.  The website is Somatosync.com .

Some of the topics covered include in the interview:

1. What is Conversion Disorder?
2.  Is Conversion Disorder all in your head?
3. What are some examples of Conversion Disorder?
4. Does there have to be major trauma for Conversion Disorder?
5. What are some of the first steps a person can take to recover?

Listen to the Podcast with Dr. Paul Canali

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Diagnosis Of Conversion Disorder

Here is another great interview I found on Conversion Disorder by Dr.  Rochelle Caplan.  She had a very good way of helping to understand what Conversion Disorder is and the struggle to diagnose it.

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Read My Personal Story

To learn more about my personal story and journey through Conversion Disorder, please check out my book, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly.

When I was in the early stages, there was so much I did not realize and know.  This is part of Conversion Disorder from my experience because if we knew these things, then most likely we could avoid this horrible ordeal.

If you're going through Conversion Disorder, please know that you are not alone and there is hope.  There is a way through it, but it requires courage and going outside the box of paradigms.  I had to let go of much of what I thought was true in life to find out what really was true.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Maladaptive Problem Solving

This is my new favorite word phrase.  Ever since I heard it the other day as Dr. Rochelle Caplan talked about Conversion Disorder on the video, I loved it!  Maladaptive problem solving says it all, in my view.

What do I mean by maladaptive problem solving?  It is when you try to deal with life's experiences, stressors and problems in ways that really are not helpful.  Maybe they are a band-aid on a gushing wound or a quick fix to suppress something unpleasant, but they really don't solve the issue.

Let's bring this down into more plain terms so that you can follow along with me better.  I don't want this to just be a complicated concept that is stated.  I really want to help you understand.  I will use an example from my past that is simplistic, but hopefully illustrates my point.

When things got too tough for me in life as a kid and they often did, I would get where I could not feel a thing.  I would shut down and numb myself out.  Now, no one could most likely tell that I did this.  I could in no way show anything that bothered me or that I was angry with my father.  If I did show any emotion, I either got labeled as a crybaby or I would get the crap beat out of me which could include getting hit with whatever was close by or being kicked like there was no tomorrow.

Sometimes I could not escape these things, but I would go outside or into the basement and I would look for something like a stick, rock, tool or anything hard.  I would start hitting myself over and over until it hurt so bad that I could begin feeling something.  It was my way of dealing with the shutdown and the anger and sadness and all the other negative emotions that came up in me.

You see, the best thing I could have done most likely was kick the living daylights out of my father (or older brother).  Unfortunately I was too small for that.  I could have told someone that I trusted, but I didn't trust anyone and we knew that if we dared say a word, it could cost us our life or the life of our pets.  There was no way out.  There was no solution.

So I learned to adapt in a unhealthy way to the experiences that I was going through.  While I was going through them, they seemed normal because it was all that I knew.  I didn't know I was problem solving in a maladaptive manner.  I would have had no clue then and it would take me many years of my life to figure that out.

This is one example and I know there are many more.  Unfortunately, I'm not the only one that does this.  I think it is all too common, especially in kids and then it is carried on into adults.  If you do this enough, there is a good chance you will learn first hand what Conversion Disorder is all about.

When we have overwhelming experiences and emotions that we have to suppress, they need to go somewhere.  Our brain rewires itself to try and make sense of it but our body also absorbs these things to the point where they are not readily seen.  We continue to accumulate layer upon layer on these things until they are so hidden from plain site, that our life resembles one that is not our own.

Maladaptive problem solving is a quick fix that gets you nowhere.  Its like being thirsty and drinking poison just because it is the only thing available.  It is taking all the negative emotions we are accumulating and turning them into physical symptoms.

Humans are good at maladaptive problem solving.  We do it all the time and are not even consciously aware we are doing it.  It is often how we survive in life, but the trick to doing things healthy is by becoming aware we are doing it and then learning different skills then what we currently employ.

Don't become in the shape that I was where I almost lost all resemblance of my life through the Conversion Disorder.  Learn healthy coping skills and how to stay connected within your body, not disconnected like so many of us do.  It isn't easy to change this once you have learned this unhealthy behavior, but it is possible to chart a new course.  I'm living proof of that!

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Diagnosis of Conversion Disorder

I recently saw a video online from the ADAA 2016 conference.  In this video, Dr Rochelle Caplan from UCLA was talking about the treatment and diagnosis of Conversion Disorder.  I see many things out there each day on this subject, but none as eloquently articulated as Dr. Caplan did.

Because I've been through Conversion Disorder, I am particularly interested in discussions like this.  When I went through my own experience, there was no internet to read up on this subject.  I was pretty much on my own to find my way through it.  With the help of doctors, it took me some time to piece my life together.

She talks about several things in the area of treatment and diagnosis of Conversion Disorder along with current research.  However, there are three things that stood out to me.

1. Maladaptive problem solving
2. The biggest problems to diagnosing the disorder
3. How we handle negative emotions.

I have not only seen this condition play out in myself, but in others who I had the opportunity to be a witness to their own healing and recovery.  I know without a doubt what Dr. Caplan means when she says there is a big barrier to diagnosing this because I have seen that come through in discussions with my own family and other families affected by conversion disorder.

Every day I read things online of people begging for people who understand.  In all honesty, when I see things like this video, I am happy that this disorder is finally making headway into reality.  There are many who are hurting.

At the same time, I know how people suffering from this hold themselves back from healing.  I do not say this to anger or upset anyone, but I know it was true in my own life and I have observed it in other people.  It is a difficult situation to navigate and no one size fits all.

However, I am glad that I did not accept where I was and I looked every day for the slightest way of healing myself.  This may sound too simplistic and in some ways it is, but I know firsthand that in order to heal, you've got to let go of that which has not worked for you up to this point in your life.  When you do that, so much will begin to be revealed beyond the walls you have built.

Please don't let it upset you what I have written if you are going through Conversion Disorder.  I do understand what it is like, but I also found a way through it and beyond.

Take a moment to check out the video by Dr. Rochelle Caplan because she has a lot of great information to share.  I can't say thank you enough to her for how well she articulated something so serious and complicated.

Video Link

How To Accurately Diagnose, Treat Conversion Disorder

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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