Education Research: Targeting Self-Described Knowledge Gaps to Improve Functional Neurologic Disorder Education Among Clinicians, 2025, Miller et al

[Mij]

Abstract​

Background and Objectives ​

The objective of this study was to improve functional neurologic disorder (FND) education by identifying knowledge gaps among providers who registered for an online course on FND. The field of FND is rapidly evolving with new frameworks for understanding the diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment. This leads to the potential for knowledge gaps among clinicians who care for patients with FND. The shift away from terminologies such as “psychogenic” or “conversion” disorders underscores advances in how FND is conceptualized. Yet, gaps in the assimilation of this new knowledge among medical providers have been consistently found in surveys. This study is a qualitative analysis, allowing participants to state their specific knowledge gaps and identify content areas most in need of additional education.

Methods​

Providers from various disciplines including neurologists and other physicians, psychologists, and physical therapists enrolled in a virtual course containing 9 asynchronous lectures on various FND topics followed by 2 live webinars (fndsociety.org/fnd-education/virtual-education-course). Participants were invited to optionally submit questions for the live webinars to the expert panel about the care of FND in various treatment settings. A qualitative descriptive research design was used, with conventional content analysis applied to identify themes from participant questions.

Results ​

One hundred ninety-one responses were collected from 268 participants over 2 months for a 71% response rate. Participant responses clustered on specific clinical presentations (e.g., functional seizures [FSs]), communication challenges with patients and other providers, inpatient challenges (e.g., when admission might be warranted), and outpatient challenges, such as limited access to multidisciplinary teams. Some participants explicitly stated outdated attitudes about FND.
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[Utsikt]

FND is a biopsychosocially complex condition that requires providers to demonstrate high confidence in their diagnostic and communication skills to convey a rule-in diagnosis to patients while also addressing any concurrent concerns regarding another serious medical/neurologic diagnosis.

This reads like a guide on how to gaslight. The penny stock scene from The Wolf of Wall Street comes to mind.

 

[Sean]

The shift away from terminologies such as “psychogenic” or “conversion” disorders underscores advances in how FND is conceptualized marketed.

 

[rvallee]

The field of FND is rapidly evolving with new frameworks for understanding the diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment

The level of lying and deceit in this profession is on the same level as some of the current absurd levels we see in politics. You can read the same things said about the exact same ideas 50 or a 100 years ago. They perfected the con of "we'll deliver something in two weeks, boss" because there is no boss and they never have to deliver anything, they can just pretend and no one cares.

The shift away from terminologies such as “psychogenic” or “conversion” disorders underscores advances in how FND is conceptualized.

Nothing proves this better than the above. Holy crap is this absolutely pathetic, even cat vomit deserves more credit. The underlying ideas are the exact same, and you can go back 50 years and find the exact same pathetic excuses, about how language is evolving, when actually the language being adapted explicitly to be more deceitful is itself part of this duplicitous disaster.

They can't convince the patients with their fairy tales, so they have mostly moved to trying to convince physicians. Who are already convinced. Because this is just propaganda.

This reads like a guide on how to gaslight. The penny stock scene from The Wolf of Wall Street comes to mind.

It really all reads like a "boiler room" pitch or a crypto scam.