The site for professionals seeking education on Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures (PNES)

You may be wondering what we are referring to when we speak of PNES but before addressing that, we should start by mentioning that PNES is actually called by a lot of different names including non-epileptic seizures, functional seizures, dissociative seizures, etc. On our end, we choose to continue to call this condition by the abbreviation “PNES” partly because a recent poll on nonepilepticseizures.com revealed that the majority of respondents prefer this term. Also, the term is accurately descriptive.

What is PNES? It’s a disorder that is characterized by behavioral episodes that can closely resemble an epileptic seizure. PNES might present with uncontrollable body movements or loss of tone and paralysis, alteration of consciousness, inability to speak, generalized unresponsiveness, etc. but these behaviors are not due to abnormal electrical (“epileptiform”) discharges in the brain. PNES contains the term “psychogenic” because most of these patients have other, pre-existing psychological conditions (though they may not have previously worked with a mental health provider and received the diagnosis) including mood and anxiety disorders, PTSD, personality disorders, and have experienced significant trauma and life adversities.