4th IACAPAP Regional Webinar

Beyond Symptoms: Understanding functional neurological disorder through a cultural lens

Functional neurological symptoms such as non-epileptic seizures, fainting / stuporous attacks, motor weakness and abnormal movements continue to be a common form of clinical presentation in children and adolescents in the Asian region. Such presentations often pose challenges in diagnosis and management. By its very nature, socio-cultural factors play a significant role in their causation, presentation, maintenance, amplification and resolution. Such factors include beliefs about health and illness, construction of illness experience, explanatory models, openness to acknowledging and expressing psychological distress, and stigma. Understanding and formulating these issues in a given case is an essential step in the effective management of this condition. This calls for cultural sensitivity and competence on the part of clinicians. Management involves close, collaborative engagement with the child, family, as well as other concerned clinicians such as paediatricians and neurologists. This presentation goes into the specifics of these factors and attempts to provide a roadmap for management, in the light of recent research evidence and insights.