Review Understanding Functional Neurological Disorder: Recent Insights and Diagnostic Challenges, 2024, Mavroudis et al.

I've taken a pause before looking properly at the last two papers. But, as you've mentioned it, one is on headache and the other migraine (Migraine associated with conversion disorder (Babinski's migraine). Analysis of a series of 43 cases - ScienceDirect )

The headache one: Functional/Psychogenic Neurological Symptoms and Headache (rwevansmd.com)
has a big old spiel bit about whether it is functional and the reasons why physicians mightn't be keen on seeing their headache patients that way

"What If Functional Neurological Symptoms Were Considered As Legitimate As Migraine?—For both these cases, the problem may lie in the fact that many neurologists have difficulty taking seriously or believing patients with functional weakness and dissociative attacks. There is still widespread support among neurologists for the idea that deception is playing a part in these symptoms even if they do not think it is the whole story.10 Certainly, 64% of the respondents of our survey agreed that these patients often deliberately exaggerate their symptoms (see Appendix I). This may be in large part because of the way that functional motor symptoms in particular can be shown at the bedside to be inconsistent (whereas there is no similar test for headache). No wonder, then, that headache specialists do not want “honest” headache patients to be associated with “dishonest” functional/psychogenic patients. Only 9% of headache specialists thought that patients with headaches exaggerate. But imagine how much more interesting the debate would be, if both types of symptoms could be taken equally seriously. In that scenario we could ask much more interesting questions not only about the biology of functional neurological symptoms but about the psychology of headache."


PS on that last line: "In that scenario we could ask much more interesting questions not only about the biology of functional neurological symptoms but about the psychology of headache."

I highly doubt that anyone has been stopping this crew from looking into the biology or biomedical of those who they end up labelling as 'functional neurological' so of course it is all the usual rhetoric of pretending their would be some two-way benefit.

I'm probably not surprising anyone / doing a 'spoiler' by clarifying that the article certainly doesn't suggest the wonderful expertise of biomedical scientists who have looked into migraine cures and medications might be drafted in by them to help get to the bottom of their FND patients..
 
The ethology of FND appears to be multifactorial, with no single predisposing factor universally present in all cases.

“Er…so…erm..FND is caused by lots of things…or everything….or maybe nothing. I dunno. We dunno. BUT we are confident we know what causes it and how. Can I explain that position? No. Now…can I interest you in my expert, evidence-based diagnosis of FND - wait, why are you running away?”

PS on that last line: "In that scenario we could ask much more interesting questions not only about the biology of functional neurological symptoms but about the psychology of headache."

I highly doubt that anyone has been stopping this crew from looking into the biology or biomedical of those who they end up labelling as 'functional neurological' so of course it is all the usual rhetoric of pretending their would be some two-way benefit.

I'm probably not surprising anyone / doing a 'spoiler' by clarifying that the article certainly doesn't suggest the wonderful expertise of biomedical scientists who have looked into migraine cures and medications might be drafted in by them to help get to the bottom of their FND patients..

If FND patients shared an aberrant biology wouldn’t that suggest that they have…organic disease?

I can never get this field to make sense.
 
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“Er…so…erm..FND is caused by lots of things…or everything….or maybe nothing. I dunno. We dunno. BUT we are confident we know what causes it and how. Can I explain that position? No. Now…can I interest you in my expert, evidence-based diagnosis of FND - wait, why are you running away?”
Everything and the kitchen sink, but especially the kitchen sink, because we know. Just pure hubristic gut feeling ruining millions of lives, it's baffling.

I am complete puzzled at the idea of asking psychological questions about headaches, it's so mediocre in having no scope, no ambition. It's just lazy and mediocre.
 
The etiology of FND appears to be multifactorial, with no single predisposing factor universally present in all cases.

So, um, how does this support FND being a discrete homogeneous identity? If anything it suggests that it isn't, or at least fails to support that claim.
 
There is a big US arm of the FND lobby, with key people like Perez at Mass General/Harvard. It might be that it has emerged more recently than the UK arm.
Yes - I didn’t word it well but was meaning of the 173 references on here. As it purports to be some sort of review

Only looked at 9 and 8 were UK and stone, sharpe, Carson were in most of them

be interesting to look further and see the actual spread of the rest.
 
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