[Movement disorders: dystonias which are apparently psychosomatic. Torsion dystonias]

In neuropediatric clinical practice, disorders of movement include a wide diversity of conditions, amongst which the dystonias are uncommon in our practice, although they have to be considered amongst the possible diagnoses in some cases. The great variety of clinical symptoms and age of onset together with the nonspecific, erratic clinical course make diagnosis difficult. Some clinical pictures of genuine torsion disorders may be confused with hysterical conversion disorders, somatizations or Munchausen's syndrome. Diagnosis requires clinical knowledge of both conditions--torsion dystonia as opposed to hysteria or a conversion reaction--and considerable ability and experience. Genetics and molecular studies have helped to clarify some difficult diagnostic problems and facilitated both diagnosis and treatment. In a diagnostic video session we show the case of a seven year old boy who initially presented with a dystonic disorder. There was some doubt as to the aetiology and different types of treatment were given by different specialists. The true diagnosis was reached after molecular genetic studies.