The pathophysiology underlying dystonia is becoming better understood as a result of discoveries about genetically based forms of the disorder, and this approach is the most promising avenue to a long-term solution.SD is classified as a neurological disorder. However, because the voice can sound normal or near normal at times, some practitioners believe it to be psychogenic; that is, originating in the affected persons mind rather than from a physical cause. This was especially true in the 19th and 20th centuries. No medical organizations or groups take this position. A comparison of SD patients compared with vocal fold paralysis (VFP) patients found that 41.7% of the SD patients met the DSM-IV criteria for psychiatric comorbidity compared with 19.5% of the VFP group. However, another study found the opposite, with SD patients having significantly less psychiatric comorbidity compared to VFP patients: "The prevalence of major psychiatric cases varied considerably among the groups, from a low of seven percent (1/14) for spasmodic dysphonia, to 29.4 percent (5/17) for functional dysphonia, to a high of 63.6 percent (7/11) for vocal cord paralysis." A review in the journal Swiss Medicine Weekly states that "Psychogenic causes, a psychological disequilibrium, and an increased tension of the laryngeal muscles are presumed to be one end of the spectrum of possible factors leading to the development of the disorder".
In Henrik Ibsens play A Dolls House, Dr. Rank has "consumption of the spine". Jocelin, the dean who wanted a spire on his cathedral in William Goldings The Spire, probably died as a result of the disease. Morton, the railroad magnate in the film Once Upon a Time in the West, has the disease and needs crutches to walk. Imogen, in the novella "The Princess with the Golden Hair", part of Memoirs of Hecate County by Edmund Wilson (1946), has Pott disease. In the story Two Gentlemen of Verona, written by A. J. Cronin, Lucia had tuberculosis of spine. References
External links
Pott Disease — Tuberculous Spondylitis (medical article with MRI picture), eMedicine, 2018-08-30. "Tuberculous arthritis", MedlinePlus, USA: NIH. Public domain. Potts Disease of the Thoracic Spine