Veronica Nisticò, Neofytos Ilia, Francesca Conte, Giovanni Broglia, Claudio Sanguineti, Francesco Lombardi, Silvia Scaravaggi, Laura Mangiaterra, Roberta Tedesco, Orsola Gambini, Alberto Priori, Angelo Maravita, Benedetta Demartini
OBJECTIVES: To explore potential alterations of the Body Schema, the implicit sensorimotor representation of one's own body, in patients with Functional Movement Disorders (FMD, Motor Conversion Disorders), characterized by neurological symptoms of altered voluntary motor function that cannot be explained by typical medical conditions. This investigation is prompted by the potential dissociation from their reportedly intact sense of ownership. METHODS: 10 FMD patients and 11 healthy controls (HC) underwent the Forearm Bisection Task, aimed at assessing perceived body metrics, which consists in asking the subject, blindfolded, to repeatedly point at the perceived middle point of their dominant forearm with the index finger of their contralateral hand, and a psychometric assessment for anxiety, depression, alexithymia, and tendency to dissociation...
February 13, 2024: Journal of Psychosomatic Research