Every so often, I have an invited writer contribute something relevant to PNES on this blog. Recently, I heard from John Dougherty, author of “Lowering the Shield: Overcoming Psychogenic Seizures” about a disappointing event in his continuing efforts to improve the lives of those living with PNES. I agreed with him that it merits being […]
The date has now been announced: October 20th, 2018 from 8:30AM-4PM The place has also been announced: Malcolm Forbes Auditorium Morristown Medical Center 100 Madison Ave, Morristown, NJ 07960 Now, all we need is to hear from you about what you think would be the best topics to present that day for an audience that
Upcoming annual conference on psychogenic non-epileptic seizures 2018-we need your input Read More »
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 »
This year we had the pleasure of holding what has now become a tradition: our annual conference on psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES)—our fourth annual conference! Some things were new this year though. To begin with, we moved our conference location from Mahwah, NJ to Morristown, NJ, where the Morristown Medical Center generously offered to host
Fourth annual psychogenic non-epileptic seizures conference in New Jersey Read More »
Early in September, I had the pleasure of attending a very exciting conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. The conference was historic and groundbreaking in many ways, not least of which was that the last International FND had been held a total of SEVEN years before! First question to tackle before we move forward is: What are
Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) Conference in Scotland, 2017 Read More »
My position has always been that the gift of knowledge is maybe one of the most wonderful gifts we can give to others. That’s why I so value the work teachers do. I am still in awe of how children enter school as illiterates and in just a few years are taught how to make
I’d like to use this month’s blog post to highlight a superb article that was published this year on psychogenic non-epileptic seizures in Clinical Psychology Review (issue 47). In my opinion, this publication is what all professionals who work with PNES should be aspiring to contribute to the field. In past blog posts I have
Many health professionals still hold misconceptions regarding PNES itself. Many still believe that the psychogenic episodes are somehow voluntary in nature. Others are uncertain about prognosis and when it comes to treatment many tend to offer a knee-jerk suggestion of CBT (cognitive behavior therapy) without taking into account that a substantial number of mental health
This year’s conference promises to be superb. We are honored to have as our invited speaker, pediatric neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Rochelle Caplan of UCLA (http://people.healthsciences.ucla.edu/institution/personnel?personnel_id=8660) and we will have several other wonderful speakers talking about both PNES diagnosis and treatment in adults and children. We are also working to set up talks by a few new
From time to time, I invite persons who have experience with PNES and who have useful information to share with others, to post on this blog. Author of the wonderful book “View From the Floor: Non-epileptic seizures: A patient’s perspective”, Kate Berger, is sharing her knowledge and essential tips on how to navigate the school
