Glove paralysis, a psychosomatic immobility of the hand, was 'about as common in Freud's time as bulimia in ours' (McWilliams 1999:69).
Hysterical in origin, due to the fact that is almost impossible to have a paralysis of the hand without the arm being implicated, it was believed by Freud to be linked to the suppression of female sexual desire and self-gratification.
The patient stops herself from masturbating due to social/religious strictures, but instead of allowing this notion to surface into consciousness where it would be seen as shameful, she develops a hysterical paralysis of the sinful hand, thus resolving the conflict as well as giving her "a certain amount of TLC that might partially meet the emotional needs that sexual gratification would more satisfactorily address" (ibid p70).
