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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Utility of Dissociated Intrinsic Hand Muscle Atrophy in the Diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Published on: March 4, 2014
[Left-sidedness and functional somatic symptoms]
1Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montréal Québec, Canada.
Abstract:
Since Paul Briquet's Traité Clinique et Thérapeutique de l'Hystérie (1859), functional somatic symptoms, especially of "hysterical" nature, are said to be more frequent on the left side of the body. More recent studies seem to confirm this mostly unexplained phenomenon. Anthropology shows in numerous cultures the pejorative symbolism of the left. Neuropsychology suggests that the right cerebral hemisphere is more involved in emotions than the left hemisphere. These two levels of explanation must be considered together, when functional somatic symptoms are conceived as bodily metaphors.
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