Functional neurological disorders: A treatment-focused review

Abstract

Functional neurological disorders are commonly seen in medical practice. Despite the fact that these conditions are currently poorly understood, the last decade has seen a substantial increase in research into many areas, notably treatment. Thus, there is good evidence supporting physical treatment with emphasis on specific elements. Psychological treatments, for a long time viewed as the mainstay of therapy for these disorders, showed remarkably low levels of evidence until better conducted studies were published recently, with interesting new trends such as interdisciplinarity or self-help. Pharmacological treatments lack clear confirmation of efficacy. Evidence for neuromodulatory treatments is at an embryonic stage, but ther have been some encouraging results.