Sigmund Freud may have been right about repressed memories causing hysteria.
Scientists at King's College London and the University of Melbourne have found, using brain scans, that psychological stress may be to blame for unexplained physical symptoms, including paralysis and seizures.
Patients showed differences in brain activity when they recalled traumatic memories compared with healthy volunteers in a study published in last month's edition of JAMA Psychiatry. Besides supporting Freud's theory and helping to explain one of the most common complaints seen by neurologists, the research may lead to new treatment approaches for patients whose symptoms were often written off by doctors in the past.