Functional neurological disorders: An educational psychology perspective

This article reports on the involvement of an Educational Psychology Service (EPS) with a group of year 10 and 11 girls in a secondary academy experiencing a Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). The FND manifested in the form of non-epileptic seizures or attacks, sometimes called Non Epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD). The article defines FND and then discusses several contextual factors as well as associated hypotheses made through various psychological lenses. The authors then reflect on the barriers and facilitating factors to the work. The writers felt compelled to share this work due to a lack of published accounts from an Educational Psychology perspective. It is hoped that this will provide an initial understanding of FND for Educational Psychologists as well as some thoughts on how to support schools experiencing this.