This episode’s guest is Dr. Beatrice Garcin  who is a neurologist at Avicenne Hospital and Sorbonne Paris Nord University. We cover a range of topics including TMS in FND, neurologic comorbidities in FND, positive signs / rule in signs in FND, and FND practice specific to France / French culture. 

Link for the discussed article- Motor functional neurologic disorders: An update: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29609961/

We invite providers to participate in a brief survey examining driving recommendations for patients with functional seizures. Developed by a dedicated study group, this survey seeks to capture the current opinions of physicians worldwide on this topic. Please take a moment to share your expertise:  https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8065625/functional-dissociative-seizures-and-driving

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Professor Jeffrey Staab from the Mayo clinic brings together balance and psychiatry in his academic and clinical practice.  He joins Dr Cotton in this podcast to speak about PPPD, vestibular migraine and the impact of dizziness on quality of life.  Listen in to find the most up to date understanding of the neuroscience of balance and stay to enjoy the useful information provided to take back to the clinic.

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This episode’s guest is Dr. Biba Stanton, the clinical lead for Neurology at Kings College Hospital in London. One of Dr. Stanton specialties is the complimentary elements of Neurology & Psychiatry for FND, and we discuss the biopsychosocial model, the role of FND educational groups, best practices for prevention of iatrogenic harm in FND, and FND & special population considerations (such as women, and those with autism spectrum disorders).

We invite providers to participate in a brief survey examining driving recommendations for patients with functional seizures. Developed by a dedicated study group, this survey seeks to capture the current opinions of physicians worldwide on this topic. Please take a moment to share your expertise:  https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8065625/functional-dissociative-seizures-and-driving

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This brief conversation introduces some of the educational opportunities within FNDS, namely highlighting the virtual educational course – FND: Rehabilitation 101 put together by Glenn Nielsen and Sarah Lidstone – which is coming out by the end of March, and the Hybrid Functional Seizures and Epilepsy Course which is occurring June 13th – 14th in Boston, co-chaired by Mahinda Yogarajah, and Barbara Dworetzky. 

We invite providers to participate in a brief survey examining driving recommendations for patients with functional seizures. Developed by a dedicated study group, this survey seeks to capture the current opinions of physicians worldwide on this topic. Please take a moment to share your expertise:  https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8065625/functional-dissociative-seizures-and-driving

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In this episode Prof Clauw explores collaborative conversations about terminology with patients and across specialities. He talks about nocioplastic pain and teases out his thoughts about long covid. There is an excellent discussion about modifiable factors in ill health and the place of integrative therapies in helping patients with FND and other disorders. It's a thoughtful, hopeful podcast from a word expert in pain

Links:

• https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/cpfrc/daniel-j-clauw-md
• https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/cpfrc/about-us

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Dr. David Perez, is a dual trained Neurologist-Psychiatrist and Cognitive-Affective Neuroscientist. He is an Associate Professor of Neurology & Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Clinically, Dr. Perez is the founding director of the Functional Neurological Disorder Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the director of the MGH FND Research Group. 

Dr Perez talks about his early fascination with bringing brain and mind together in research and how this has energized him to create 'brain teams'. He advocates working across disciplines and across specialities to learn from and educate each other with the aim of creating precise and effective treatments for FND.  Dr Perez gives advice on how to create a dream team for treating and researching FND and muses on the pscyhopathophysical signatures of FND. 

It's an energized and energetic podcast and one sure to bring hope to patients and clinicians of all kinds interested in FND.

https://www.massgeneral.org/neurology/research/functional-neurology-research-group

https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/Person/86553

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The episode covers the FNDS Annual meeting which took place in early June in Verona Italy, including daily conference highlights, and interviews with several of the conference speakers. This was a multi-disciplinary conference bringing together leading international experts, from a range of backgrounds including neurology, physiatry, psychiatry, psychology, physical, occupational, and speech therapies. Special guest conversations were with Michael Dilley, Gaston Baslet, Dara Albert, Julie Maggio and Claire Nicholson. 

Links:

FNDS 2024 Conference
Michael Dilley
Gaston Baslet
Dara V.F. Albert
Functional Neurology Research Group
Occupational Therapy – neurosymptoms.org

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This episode includes discussion with Dr. Matthew Butler regarding his professional pathway and background to FND research and practice including a detour into philosophy and nerdy book recommendations, his parallel work as a trial doctor on psychedelics for other neuropsychiatric conditions and clinical work in FND, his upcoming trial of psilocybin in FND (https://www.psifund.co.uk/) and gender, diversity, & trauma as it relates to psychedelic use.  Lastly we discuss his hopes for future studies and next steps.

Relevant Links: 

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/matt-butler

https://www.psifund.co.uk/

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Aaron D. Fobian, PhD is an Associate Professor and clinical psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she is the PI of the Functional Neurological Disorder and Pediatric Behavioral Health Laboratory.

This episode includes discussion with Dr. Aaron Fobian regarding her Professional Pathway and Background to FND Research and Practice, Similarities and Divergences in FND between Pediatric and Adult Populations, Pediatric FND Treatment Development- namely the ReACT Trials, Novel Approaches for Standardized Training for Behavioral Health Professionals in Pediatric FND

Links:

• ReACTFND.health
• Fobian FND+PBH Lab - Aaron Fobian FND+PBH Lab (fobianlab.com)

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This episode includes discussion with Dr. Samantha Weber regarding her Professional Pathway and Background to FND Research and Practice; Defining Stress and Subtyped Trauma, How this relates to Body and Brain (cortisol levels, HPA, amygdala / hippocampus etc.); Prevalence Factors, Specifically as it Relates to Female Predominance in FND, and lastly Translating Bench to Bedside as it relates to targets for treatment (emotional, and physiological / regulatory) and evolving available clinical imaging options to identify dysfunction in FND at the patient level 

 Links:

• Samantha WEBER | PostDoc Position | Master of Health Science and Technology ETH Zurich | Inselspital, Universitätsspital Bern, Bern | Department of Neurology | Research profile (researchgate.net)
• Identification of biopsychological trait markers in functional neurological disorders - PubMed (nih.gov)
• Healthcare employment as a risk factor for functional neurological disorder: A case-control study - PubMed (nih.gov)

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