Epilepsy vs. Psychogenic Nonepileptic Attacks

One common misconception about epilepsy is that everyone who has a seizure, has the condition. But the truth is, not every seizure is caused by epilepsy. In fact, there are few different types of nonepileptic seizures.

Today though, I’m going to focus on talking about just one kind of seizure that isn’t caused by epilepsy. They’re called psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, otherwise known as PNES.

What are psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, and how are they different from seizures caused by epilepsy?

To the naked eye, psychogenic seizures tend to look very similar to epileptic seizures. They could come in the form of tonic-clonics, absence seizures, or even just small jerks in the limbs.

The difference lies in the cause. Because rather than being caused by electrical activity within the brain, they’re actually caused by a psychological issue.

But since it can be almost impossible to tell the difference between psychogenic seizures and ones caused by epilepsy (unless you’re a professional), PNES can be hard to diagnose.

What can cause PNES?

Several different things can result in PNES, but it all stems from someone suffering with psychological distress. Some examples could include…

• PTSD

• Personality Disorders

• Dissociative Disorders

• Somatic Symptom Disorders

How are psychogenic nonepileptic seizures diagnosed?

Although PNES closely resembles seizures caused by epilepsy, professionals can usually tell the difference if they’re able to witness the event for themselves. Such as through video recordings, or video EEGs. So these are common tools for diagnosis.

But it should be noted that PNES is often misdiagnosed as epilepsy! In fact, as many as 25% of people who have been diagnosed with epilepsy but don’t respond to medication have been found to have PNES instead of epilepsy!

How are psychogenic nonepileptic seizures treated?

Treatment for PNES can be complicated, especially because you have to narrow down what psychological distress is causing the seizure-like activity before you can go about resolving it.

And since there are so many possible causes, there’s a lot of possible treatments as well. Such as…

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

• Various types of psychotherapy.

• And potentially EDMR, which you can read about in this article.

The struggle for people suffering from PNES…

Aside from misdiagnosis, people with PNES have other obstacles as well… Such as a stigma that they’re “faking” their seizures, when they’re not!

Because, when people hear that someone is having a physical symptom because of a psychological problem, they don’t always believe it. Even though they should…

The truth is though, the seizures caused by this condition present and feel nearly the same as seizures brought on by epilepsy. So all the person with PNES knows is that they had a seizure! Without a doctor diagnosing the issue, they would never be able to know the difference just from how it feels.

So no, they’re not faking it. In fact, they have no control of their seizures whatsoever. Which is why this condition can be so hard to live with.

Conclusion

PNES is a serious medical issue, one that needs to be researched more thoroughly in the future. And one that needs to be talked about more often, so that people suffering from it don’t feel so isolated and misunderstood.

I hope I was able to help with that discussion, even in a small way, with this article. But I’m counting on all of you to help spread the word even further.

And if you’d like more information about PNES, then please check out the following links…

Additional Info

https://www.epilepsy.com/stories/truth-about-psychogenic-nonepileptic-seizures

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24517-psychogenic-nonepileptic-seizure-pnes