Speech and voice disorders in patients with psychogenic movement disorders

Abstract

Psychogenic speech and voice disorders (PSVDs) may occur in isolation but more typically are encountered in the setting of other psychogenic disorders. We aimed to characterize the phenomenology, frequency, and correlates of PSVDs in a cohort of patients with psychogenic movement disorders (PMDs). We studied 182 consecutive patients with PMDs, 30 of whom (16.5 %) also exhibited PSVD. Stuttering was the most common speech abnormality (n = 16, 53.3 %), followed by speech arrests (n = 4, 13.3 %), foreign accent syndrome (n = 2, 6.6 %), hypophonia (n = 2, 6.6 %), and dysphonia (n = 2, 6.6 %). Four patients (13.2 %) had more complex presentations with different combinations of these patterns. No differences in gender, age at onset, and distribution of PMDs were observed between patients with and without PSVD. PSVDs are relatively frequent in patients with PMDs and are manifested by a wide variety of abnormal speech and voice phenomena, with stuttering being the most common presentation. Speech therapy and insight-oriented counseling may be helpful to some patients.

Keywords: Movement disorders; Psychogenic; Speech disorders; Stuttering.