Adjunctive Low-Dose Amisulpride in Motor Conversion Disorder

Extant pharmacological options for motor conversion disorder include mainly antidepressants and benzodiazepines. We report on the case of a 42-year-old female patient with frequent daily episodes of almost complete paralysis for the last 6 months resistant to an escitalopram-lorazepam combination at adequate doses. By contrast, the adjunctive administration of low-dose amisulpride at 200 mg/d to the patient’s regimen resulted in her substantial and durable improvement. We hypothesize that low-dose amisulpride, acting as a selective antagonist of D-2 and D-3 dopamine autoreceptors, might reverse the decreased activity of frontal and subcortical dopaminergic circuits presumably involved in motor control during hysterical paralysis.