conversion /kənvur″zhən/ [L, convertere, to turn around] , 1. changing from one form to another; transmutation. 2. (in obstetrics) the correction of a fetal position during labor. 3. (in psychiatry) an unconscious defense mechanism by which emotional conflicts that ordinarily cause anxiety are repressed and transformed into symbolic physical symptoms that have no organic basis. Loss of sensation, paralysis, pain, and other dysfunctions of the nervous system are the most common somatic expressions of conversion. 4. (in traditional use) changing from one religion to another or a spiritual awakening from not having faith to acquiring it.
