The Association of Maladaptive Coping Strategies with Adverse Parenting Styles and Symptoms of Mood Swings, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Patients with Conversion Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Conversion disorder is a socially and psychologically shaped change and loss of somatic functioning evocative of a physiological illness. Functional neurological disorder signs are always superimposed on physiological and mental health problems as well as being ignorable. There is a scarcity of investigations related to the association between conversion disorder, social stressors, and mental health in Pakistan, which could be helpful in preparing management plans and techniques. The purpose of the study was to examine the association between parenting styles, coping strategies, and mental health issues in patients with functional neurological disorders.

Methods: Two hundred  diagnosed conversion disorder patients (male, n =80; female, n =120) were recruited at the Department of Psychiatric and Neurological, the Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), and the Military Hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan from January 2018 to August 2018. Three psychological scales were used to examine parenting styles, coping mechanism, psychological problems in in patients with functional neurological disorders.

Results: A comparative investigation between the male and female patients with CD revealed statistically significant difference in negative affect and religious coping strategy. Correlation analysis findings found that permissive parenting was significantly associated with depression, anxiety, stress, positive affect. The moderation to mediation analysis revealed that coping strategies act as a moderator between pathway parenting styles and psychological symptoms.

Conclusions: Functional neurological disorders are a vital problem for affected people, their relatives, and the Pakistan healthcare system, with the lowest estimated occurrence of 1.7 cases per 10,000 people. Healthcare experts should be aware of the potential for conversion disorder and its negative mental health consequences as well as work to address and manage the problems of evolving effective intervention plans, mostly in the cross-cultural setting. This study recommended that psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, depressive and positive and negative mood swing symptoms are common in patients with CD. Moreover, psychopathology, parenting styles, and coping strategies may potentially be helpful for targeted prevention and screening for CD patients with anxiety, depression, and mood swings.