Aahana suffers from evaluation anxiety and develops 'Writer's Cramp'…

The correct answer is Option (4) → Conversion disorder

Somatic symptom and related disorders are conditions with physical symptoms for which there is no biological cause. The options name different members of this family, and the question gives two clues: a loss of motor function (writer’s cramp) and stress before an examination.

Option (1) Somatic symptoms disorder — Incorrect. Here a person has persistent body-related symptoms and is overly preoccupied with them, worrying continually about her/his health and visiting doctors again and again. Aahana’s problem is a specific loss of function under stress, not a continuing worry about symptoms.

Option (2) Illness anxiety disorder — Incorrect. This is a persistent preoccupation with developing a serious illness, with anxiety about one’s health. Aahana does not fear an illness; her hand stops working.

Option (3) Somatoform disorder — Incorrect. ‘Somatoform disorders’ is the older name for the whole group now called somatic symptom and related disorders. It names the family, not the particular disorder Aahana has.

Option (4) Conversion disorder — Correct. In conversion, the person suffers a loss or impairment of motor or sensory function (paralysis, blindness and the like) that has no physical cause but may be a response to stress and psychological problems. Writer’s cramp before an examination, with MRIs and X-rays showing nothing, fits this description.

Note: The term in Option (3), ‘somatoform disorder’, is not in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, nor in the NCERT book (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students.