Functional Seizures

A systematic review found no validated psychotherapeutic treatments offering sustained benefit for functional seizures. Functional seizures have an incidence of 7 per 100,000 per year and a prevalence of roughly 0.05% of the general population. Women are affected by functional seizures approximately three times more often than men, with a median onset age in the thirties. Functional seizures are not attributable to underlying brain pathology and are instead considered to arise from psychological mechanisms. Mortality from functional seizures is elevated to a degree comparable with epilepsy, while quality of life is significantly worse. Patient adherence to psychological interventions for functional seizures is poor, largely due to stigmatisation associated with psychiatric diagnoses.