Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Why one of the most common brain disorders is also one of the most misunderstood

fastcompany.com · 2hShare

“It’s all in your head.” By the time many people with functional neurological disorder arrive in our clinic, they have heard these five words more times than they can count. They are told their brain scan was normal. Their electroencephalogram , a test that measures the brain’s electrical activity, is reassuring. “The good news is you don’t have epilepsy,” they’re told. No test can explain why they can’t walk without falling, why their leg won’t stop trembling, or why they experience seizures that leave them exhausted for hours, even days. Some begin to wonder if they really are imagining it. Over the past several years working as the program manager of one of the few multidisciplinary clinics for functional neurological disorder, I have watched the same story unfold again and again, from long diagnostic journeys and deep uncertainty to the profound relief of finally being believed. Dr. Laura Strom, one of the neurologists at the clinic, often reassures patients, “Well, it’s good that

First report: One of the most common brain disorders is one of the most misunderstood – how functional neurological disorder is both ‘all in your head’ and beyond it — theconversation.com, 1d