Recommendations for summer reading: a variety of choices about and by persons living with Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES)

Psychoeducation: refers to some form of intervention (lecture, support group meeting or published materials) that aims to educate the audience members/readers about a specific health condition, provides coping suggestions and informs about treatment options.  Usually, psychoeducation is provided by health professionals but not necessarily; patients who have educated themselves about their health issues can prove...

As someone who has PNES, what should I know about the COVID-19 vaccines?

If we can say anything for sure about COVID-19 is that there is still a lot that we do not know. Making matters worse, at times experts have communicated confusing and contradictory information to the public. One of the clearest examples of these confounding messages can be found in the advice provided regarding mask wearing.  In March of 2020, experts on news outlets were saying “definitely, do not wear a...

The debate on what to call psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), non-epileptic attach disorder (NEAD), dissociative seizures, functional seizures, etc. continues

This feature article was just published by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and summarizes meetings that took place last year. https://www.newswise.com/articles/what-should-we-call-psychogenic-non-epileptic-seizures   Note: I will continue to call PNES by this name below since we do not have a better term yet. Why is this important what we call this disorder, you might ask? In summary, the name...

Shame and Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES): research topic?

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by one of the leaders in the field of research of Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES); he proposed a project to several professionals in the field of PNES focusing on a topic that is often overlooked not only in PNES but in many other conditions and a variety of clinical settings. He stated that he had the sense that this emotional state may play an important role in the...

Studying Emotion, Relationships, and Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures (PNES) at Arizona State University

This month’s blog post comes to us from sunny Arizona, more specifically, Dayana Villarreal, Graduate Student, Arizona State University. Below, you are invited to read about her current research project on PNES. She hopes you may decide to take an online survey that will be used to better understand the inner workings of PNES.   When I joined the emotion research lab at Arizona State University (ASU) as a...