Hysteria and conversion in the ojibway patient: cross-cultural psychiatry for the family physician.

Case examples of hysterical coma and paralysis in two Ojibway patients are used to introduce a discussion of conversion symptoms. Somatoform disorders are described using the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition; these are then applied to hysteria in the Native American patient. The authors discuss the cultural context of conversion symptoms in this population and describe guidelines for the provision of culturally sensitive therapy by the family physician.