Illness-Promoting Psychological Processes in Children and Adolescents with Functional Neurological Disorder

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Psychology
• Child Neurology
• Psychosomatic Medicine

Background:

• Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) in children is linked to stress-system dysregulation and neural network changes.
• Subjective distress in pediatric FND is a significant clinical concern.
• Previous research highlights the association between psychological factors and FND symptomology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To document and characterize illness-promoting psychological processes in children with FND.
• To investigate the prevalence and nature of these processes in a pediatric inpatient sample.
• To establish the role of these processes in maintaining FND and subjective distress.

Main Methods:

• Inclusion of 76 children diagnosed with FND admitted to an inpatient Mind-Body Program.
• Utilized comprehensive family assessments and self-report measures for psychological processes.
• Comparison with 47 healthy controls on distress and adverse childhood experiences.

Main Results:

• All children with FND exhibited illness-promoting psychological processes.
• Common processes included chronic worries (84.2%), symptom attention (80.3%), sadness (76.3%), and low sense of control (57.9%).
• Children with FND reported significantly higher subjective distress and adverse childhood experiences compared to controls.

Conclusions:

• Illness-promoting psychological processes are integral to the clinical presentation of pediatric FND requiring inpatient care.
• These processes contribute to ongoing subjective distress and can perpetuate the disorder if unaddressed.
• Clinical interventions targeting these psychological factors are essential for effective FND management in children.