Meet the new Executive Director of FND Hope USA

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 required. Until now, clinical trials have been conducted on relatively small samples [except for a...

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...

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...

How important is alexithymia in the treatment of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES)? (Post for clinicians)

Spoiler alert: Important in patients who have PNES and high alexithymia What is alexithymia? Basically, it is, not having words for emotions (a=not having, lexi=word, thymia=emotion) or in other words, having a hard time identifying and describing feelings. In psychology it is associated with two concepts: emotional knowledge (EK) and emotional regulation (ER). EK has to do with: 1) Being able to identify...