I like a lot of things about the summer months including the warmer weather, the longer days, the fact that New York City becomes less crowded, traveling, and sitting or lying outside resting and catching some sunrays. But what I especially enjoy about the summer is that I get to read the books that have […]
The first time I saw a patient diagnosed with PNES was when I was a neuropsychology fellow at an epilepsy center over 20 years ago. Early one morning, I was in a group of trainees and staff and we were visiting patients on rounds with the attending doctor. Before entering one of the rooms, the doctor
The Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizure Pocketbook: Why I wrote it Read More »
Every year, all profits from the sale of “Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: A guide” are donated to Epilepsy Alliance America, a wonderful foundation that hosts the Lorna Myers PNES Scholarship. This award is offered to any person living in the USA and who has a diagnosis of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. The money that is granted can
Join me in congratulating the 2023 Lorna Myers PNES Scholarship awardees! Read More »
For six years straight, the Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group (NEREG), hosted an annual PNES conference for patients, caregivers, and in the last few years, for health professionals too. Our last and sixth conference was held in 2019 and then, as we all know, the world ground to a halt due to the 2020 pandemic. So,
In a few weeks, a new book on PNES is going to be published and will be called: The Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (also known as dissociative seizures) Pocketbook. The word “pocketbook” is in its title because it is meant to be just that: a book that a clinician might carry in her/his pocket for
For almost 20 years, I have been a school nurse. During one of my first years as a school nurse, I met a student with what health care providers were then calling pseudoseizures. While many school personnel were very supportive of this student, there were just as many who were NOT. I heard comments
Students living with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES)-a new study Read More »
One of the ways in which we can help improve the lives of those living with PNES or dissociative seizures is through scientific research. Fortunately, in the last couple of decades, there has been a proliferation of research studies that have focused on risk, prognostic and outcome factors, diagnostic tools, treatment modalities, among other
For six years straight, the Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group (NEREG), hosted an annual PNES conference for patients, caregivers, and in the later years, for health professionals too. Our last conference was held on 2019 and then, as we all know, the world ground to a halt due to the 2020 pandemic. Although we did not
There is so much that we need to do to improve the lives of those living with PNES. We definitely need to increase treatment options and to ensure a growing number of clinicians are available to treat this health condition. To achieve this, research on treatment outcome is a necessity, and as such, funding is
It is important for mental health professionals to be cognizant of this because these patients exist and are encountered in psychotherapists’ offices with certain regularity. For decades if not centuries (if we look back to Pierre Janet and Sigmund Freud) it has been understood that psychological trauma is an important risk factor in the development
