We have all been asked to practice something called “social distancing” which means keeping at least 6 feet from others and avoiding (as of today) being in a group of 10 people. Schools, churches, public buildings, restaurants, gyms, etc. have all been closed for this purpose and now, many of us are stuck at home […]
In June, our team (Myers, Trobliger, Bortnik, Zeng, Segal and Lancman) published: “Dissociation and other clinical phenomena in youth with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) compared to youth with epilepsy” in the peer-reviewed journal Seizure: European Journal of Epilepsy. The article had some very interesting findings which I will discuss below. This paper compared 15 youth
Warning: PNES used to be called hysteria in the 19th Century and since this is a historical book, that is the term you will find in it. The Nature/Nurture explanation of human behavior are like two sides of a coin and over the last few centuries, the coin keeps getting tossed every few decades. The
A book on psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) in the 19th Century Read More »
Late last year, we posted a survey on the homepage of www.nonepilepticseizures.com that addresses the age-old question: what should we call these particular non-epileptic episodes? The difference in this blog post is that we will hear from non-professional survey voters and not just the researchers. If you have followed this blog, you might recall that
I’m Clea, the director, producer and editor of dis-sociated, the first feature-length documentary about Dissociative Seizures which is now available to watch on YouTube: I was inspired to create this documentary after my friend developed mysterious absence-like seizures, which doctors were unable to explain or prevent. Once my friend finally received a diagnosis, her life
“‘dis-sociated’ – The first ever feature documentary on PNES Read More »
This month, several colleagues at the Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group published a new article: “Psychological trauma, somatization, dissociation, and psychiatric comorbidities in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures compared with those in patients with intractable partial epilepsy.” The initial aim of the project was to better understand psychological trauma in PNES and in persons with epilepsy (PWEs) and
In 2017, we set about trying to answer a question that had been on my mind for a few years. The query was whether women and men with PNES were the same in all respects or different, and if they were different, in what ways. The reason answering this question is important is because better
Are psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) the same in men and women? Read More »
Five years ago, at the Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group, we took a leap into the unknown and organized our first ever PNES conference for patient and caregivers. Just days before the conference was to take place, we were understandably nervous. We wondered if anyone would even show up, if there was any interest in the
In 1992, Dr. Herman published this groundbreaking book that, over the years, has helped educate countless clinicians who treat traumatized individuals. I believe I came upon this first edition in 1995. The most updated version came out recently in 2015. In my opinion, this book provides one of the clearest and insightful explanations of the
Dis-sociated- is a documentary by Clea Martin Vargas Dis-sociated will be a feature length documentary about Dissociative Seizures, also known as Non-epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD) or Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES). Clea decided to make this documentary after witnessing first-hand the tremendous difficulties her friend faced with her diagnosis of PNES (or dissociative seizures), or what
Dis-sociated: A documentary about psychogenic non-epileptic seizures Read More »
