PNES & FND

If you have been diagnosed with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) or functional neurological disorder (FND), you may know the experience of feeling like no one fully understands what you are going through, not the neurologists, not the therapists, and sometimes not even the people closest to you.

Many clients I work with who carry these diagnoses describe a long arc of hopelessness, feeling like their medical support team could not pinpoint what was happening. Many started on the seizure side and eventually learned that what they were experiencing involved a strong nervous system component. Knowing that does not make it stop.

There is a huge component here around control and letting go.

What I have found over years of working closely with PNES and FND clients is this: what many people experience as a seizure or spasm is often the body's attempt to shake, unwind, and release deeply held tension. But the fear response, the "Survivor Self" part of the mind, steps in and tries to stop the shaking. The body is trying to let go, and the mind is trying to hold on. The collision between these two forces is what produces the seizure or the spasm.

My approach through the Capacity for Self Method™ starts with mapping out the internal parts, the Survivor Self, the Young Self, and the True Self:

• Disarming the Survivor Self: The protective part that is trying to control the body needs to learn that it is safe to step aside. This does not happen through force, it happens through building enough trust that the Survivor Self can relax its grip.
• Engaging the True Self: Once the Survivor Self steps back, even briefly, the client can experience what it feels like to have the calm, grounded True Self lead the way during an episode, before, during, and after.
• Learning to ride the wave: When a person discovers that the shaking and unwinding their body wants to do is not dangerous, that it is actually the body's way of releasing held tension, everything changes. What was terrifying becomes workable. Some clients describe an easier relationship with episodes as the nervous system settles.

Once a person experiences a calmer, less tumultuous episode with the True Self leading rather than the Survivor Self, they begin to understand that their internal psychological framework has been playing a pivotal role in the impact this condition has had on their life.

This work requires patience and trust. I do not ask you to do anything you are not ready for. Sessions may involve somatic parts work (identifying and dialoguing with the protector parts), gentle bodywork to help the nervous system regulate, and breathwork to create safety in the body.

My approach does not replace your neurologist or your medical team. It is somatic support that some clients carrying these diagnoses have found useful as a complement to their existing care. Your medical team owns the diagnosis and the treatment plan. What I offer is one dimension of integrated support.

If you are living with PNES or FND and want to explore whether somatic work might be a useful complement to the care you are already receiving, I would welcome a conversation. This is one of my deepest areas of experience.

This work is somatic education and complementary care.
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