Functional / Dissociative Seizures

Functional / dissociative seizures (FDS), also called psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are events, which look like epileptic seizures but are not caused by any brain dysfunction. FDS are a mental health disorder, which has a negative impact on patients’ quality of life. FDS are classified as conversion disorder with seizures (Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder, FND), under somatic symptom disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), while the International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Edition (ICD-11) classifies them as a dissociative neurological symptom disorder, with non-epileptic seizures.

FDS is biopsychosocial phenomenon and it is necessary to have a strong multidisciplinary approach, which involves epileptologists, neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists for their management.

Use of suggestive seizure manipulation methods in the investigation of patients with possible psychogenic nonepileptic seizures—An international ILAE survey, Epilepsia Open (2021)

PNES around the world: Where we are now and how we can close the diagnosis and treatment gaps: A report of the ILAE PNES Task Force, Epilepsia Open (2017)

Unraveling the mystery of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, Epigraph (Winter 2020)

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: Diagnosis, treatment and stigma, Epigraph (Spring 2019)

Psychogenic seizures in middle age: The long reach of trauma, Epigraph (Spring 2019)

How dissociative seizures changed Nina Pye’s life, Epigraph (Spring 2019)

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: One teen’s journey to self-discovery through psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, Epigraph (Spring 2019)

Minimum requirements for the diagnosis of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: A staged approach, Epilepsia (2013)