Is sexual trauma a risk factor for functional (psychogenic) seizures?

Overall comorbidities in functional neurological disorder: A narrative review

INTRODUCTION

The importance to assess and include the frequent comorbidities in the personalised care management plan of patients with functional neurological disorders (FND) has arisen through the years. FND patients are not only complaining from motor and/or sensory symptoms. They also report some non-specific symptoms that participate to the burden of FND. In this narrative review, we aim to better describe these comorbidities in terms of prevalence, clinical characteristics and their variability depending on the subtype of FND.

METHODS

The literature was searched for on Medline and PubMed. The search was narrowed to articles between 2000 and 2022.

RESULTS

Fatigue is the most common symptom reported in relation to FND (from 47 to 93%), followed by cognitive symptoms (from 80 to 85%). Psychiatric disorders are reported in 40 to 100% FND patients, depending on the FND subtype (functional motor disorder [FMD], functional dissociative seizures [FDS]…) but also on the type of psychiatric disorder (anxiety disorders being the most frequent, followed by mood disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders). Stress factors such as childhood trauma exposure (emotional neglect and physical abuse predominantly) have also been identified in up to 75% of FND patients, along with maladaptive coping strategies. Organic disorders are commonly reported in FND, such as neurological disorders (including epilepsy in FDS [20%] and FMD in Parkinson's Disease [7%]). Somatic symptom disorders including chronic pain syndromes are frequently associated to FND (about 50%). To be noted, recent data also suggest a high comorbidity between FND and hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (about 55%).

CONCLUSION

Put together, this narrative review highlights the high burden of FND patients, not only due to somatosensory alterations but also by considering the frequent comorbidities reported. Thus, such comorbidities must be taken into consideration when defining the FND personalised care management strategy for the patients.

Socioemotional self- and co-regulation in functional seizures: comparing high and low posttraumatic stress

Functional seizures (FS) are seizure-like symptoms without electroencephalogram (EEG)-based epileptic activity. Those with FS often show emotion-related dysfunction and disrupted interpersonal relationships, in which posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTS) may play a role. We sought to better understand trauma comorbidities and socioemotional processes in FS, including affectionate touch, a form of social connection linked to emotion regulation and awareness. We administered questionnaires online to a community sample of 89 trauma-exposed FS participants (FS diagnoses were self-reported), 51 with and 38 without clinical-level PTS (FS-PTShi, FS-PTSlo) and 216 seizure-free matched trauma-exposed controls (TCs), 91 with and 125 without clinical-level PTS (TC-PTShi, TC-PTSlo) per the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Checklist (PCL). As hypothesized, both FS-PTShi and FS-PTSlo reported more emotional avoidance (Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire), more emotion regulation difficulties (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), and more perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale) than PTS-matched counterparts. FS-PTShi also reported less reappraisal (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire), more loneliness (UCLA Loneliness Scale), and less frequent affectionate touch (Physical Affection Scale) during waking and surrounding sleep than TC-PTShi, whereas FS-PTSlo and TC-PTSlo did not differ. Neither FS group differed from PTS-matched controls in emotion suppression (Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) or comfort with social touch (Social Touch Questionnaire). Among FS, FS-PTShi reported more difficulties than FS-PTSlo on nearly all measures (non-significant trend for social support). Findings underscore potential synergistic effects of FS and PTS clinical symptoms in shaping experiences of one's emotions and social world, suggesting fostering meaningful connections with others, including via affectionate touch, is an important treatment target.

Functional seizures: Cluster analysis may predict the associated risk factors

OBJECTIVES

We applied the Two-Step cluster analysis on a large cohort of patients with functional seizures (FS). We studied whether the background risk factors differed between the patient clusters.

METHODS

All patients with a diagnosis of FS were studied at the outpatient epilepsy clinic at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, from 2008 until 2021. The Two-Step cluster analysis was applied considering the age at onset, sex, and seizure semiology. We also studied whether the background risk factors (e.g., a history of sexual abuse, physical abuse, etc.) differed between these patient clusters.

RESULTS

Three-hundred and fifty four patients were studied. The Two-Step cluster analysis was applied to the 230 patients who reported any associated risk factors; there were three clusters of patients. The most prominent feature of cluster 1 included akinetic seizures. The most prominent features of cluster 2 included motor seizures and no ictal injury. The most prominent features of cluster 3 included motor seizures with ictal injury. Compared with patients in cluster 3, a history of sexual abuse was more often reported by patients in cluster 1 (OR: 3.26, 95%CI: 1.12-9.47; p = 0.03). Compared with patients in cluster 3, a history of physical abuse was less often reported by patients in cluster 2 (OR: 0.45, 95%CI: 0.22-0.90; p = 0.026).

CONCLUSION

The Two-Step cluster analysis could identify three distinct clusters of patients based on their demographic and clinical characteristics. These clusters had correlations with the associated risk factors in patients with FS.

Neurostimulation for the treatment of functional neurological disorder: A systematic review

Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), also known as conversion disorder, is characterized by neurological symptoms that are incompatible with any known structural disorder and best explained by a biopsychosocial model. Evidence-based treatments for FND are limited, with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and physiotherapy being the most effective interventions [1]. In recent years, functional neuroimaging studies have provided robust evidence of alterations in activity and connectivity in multiple brain networks in FND. This body of evidence suggests that neurocircuitry-based interventions, such as non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (NIBS), may also represent an effective therapeutic option for patients with FND. In this systematic review, we outline the current state of knowledge of NIBS in FND, and discuss limitations and future directions that may help establish the efficacy of NIBS as a therapeutic option for FND.