Psychogenic Movement Disorders in Children

Psychogenic movement disorders (PMDs) are well characterized in adults, but childhood-onset PMDs have not been extensively studied. We reviewed the medical records of children who were diagnosed in our clinic with PMDs since 1988 and identified 54 patients with PMDs, representing 3.1% of our pediatric movement disorder population and 5.7% of all PMD cases. The mean age at symptom onset was 14.2 years (+/- 2.11. range 7.6-17.7). Similar to published data in adults, two-thirds of children exhibited multiple PMD phenotypes, the most common being tremor followed by dystonia and myoclonus.