I found this interesting and would welcome your thoughts.

[210272]

medscape.com/viewarticle/95......

[Shelford24]

Interesting article, I've read a bit about the Anti-psychiatry movement and concluded a balance is needed. So neither for or against.

The problem arises when psychoanalysis is used. Lots of things are normal but then deemed a problem by a medical professional, whose misreading of signals as you aren't conforming and they can't place you in their little box.

We are all human and react differently in different situations for some having counseling sessions is a real benefit for others it causes more harm and a different strategy is needed.

Within FND and other rare conditions I think psychoanalysis can be harmful and lead to the possibility of being misdiagnosed and the agenda is so fixed that all your problems must be caused by trauma and distress that real organic symptoms are missed.

[Misstea in reply to Shelford24]

So, there's nothing wrong with seeing a counselor, in you eyes, as long as the counselor does not rely heavily on psychoanalysis? That's basically part of what I'm getting from your response. 🙂

[Shelford24 in reply to Misstea]

No sorry I mean people who aren't medically trained as being psychologist's who try to psycho analyse medical conditions as having a non-organic origin due to the fact they don't have an answer for your condition can cause harm. We are all human and can't expect to know everything.

What's your take on the anti psychiatry movement?

[Misstea in reply to Shelford24]

I have to read more about that myself but I don't want to read about it from Wikipedia alone either. I might read up about it on Psychology Today first or another resource.

[Shelford24 in reply to Misstea]

That's a good call, it's an interesting subject, some articles I found I really supported the anti-psychiatry movement, then found others which lead me to not support this view.

For me I think it's about striking a balance, and finding the right professional to help and allow the person in need to set the agenda and support them rather than being closed to things either being right/wrong as we aren't all the same.

[Misstea in reply to Shelford24]

I agree with that.

[Van604 in reply to Shelford24]

I could not agree with you more. I believe the treatment I had from a neuropsychiatrist did me nothing but harm, with the insistence on my problem being trauma based. I went along with it for 2 years, got worse, and now I've had enough. I'm going back to trying to figure out for myself what works for me, and what makes things worse. This is what I was doing before, and I felt a lot better.

[Shelford24 in reply to Van604]

Wishing you all the best, hope you find ways that help you after all you're the person who knows you best.

I was misdiagnosed with FND as everything was psychoanalysed rather than listening to what I was saying, my physical injury was dismissed leading to delayed treatment, the insistence that symptoms can only be caused by emotional trauma can be very damaging.

I'm more than happy to see a therapist on my terms and if I feel I need it, but pushing people down that path just because you can't figure something out is wrong.

[Brokendeer in reply to Van604]

Hi also agree, I am one for taking the logical, physical route and trying to figure out the best way forward with my Motor FND. I also found this book very inspiring, mainly because it pointed to other Physically compromised people suffering what most Psychiatrists would perceive as just trauma or mental based symptoms, not actual ones.

The book is;

Living with Physical Disability and Amputation (Paperback) – 1 Sept. 2009

by Keren Fisher

Now do not let the title put you off, this is brilliant! It discusses cases of people with different Physical Loss either actual or mental. There is a section on Amputees and how they get `Phantom' pain and how they struggle with understanding why etc. This is so true of my Motor FND symptoms, I have muscles/tendons and nerves saying and doing all sorts of things and visually it is obvious most of the time, but occasionally I get pseudo cramp where I swear my foot is clenched with cramp and then look at it and nothing is amiss?

I also have a weird thing where if one side of my body is struggling to action movement, the other side of my body will try to assist - this has been noticed by other FND sufferers in other Posts and I watched a documentary on a Cerebral Palsy Paralympic Swimmer who could only swim because her brain used the same side circuit for both legs/arms, not each individual side circuits. So there may well be something in that as at least FND is defined as a structural brain change!

Look for the calm in the Storm!

[Brokendeer]

Hi I found this book very helpful in understanding that not just diagnosed FND sufferers have similar problems within the medical profession with `is it physical or mental' as the cause of problems.

The book is:

Living with Physical Disability and Amputation (Paperback) – 1 Sept. 2009

by Keren Fisher

Also I have read some great articles from Neuroscience magazine and the latest which peaked my interest was about General Anaesthetics and how the brain recovers the Cognitive Problem Solving part of the brain first out of all the systems to wake up after surgery and the anaesthetic wears off - previously this was not known. How much more of the brain is still a medical mystery?

Look for the calm in the Storm!

[Van604 in reply to Brokendeer]

That's really interesting. I had 3 surgeries with general anaesthetic in 5 years and (at 60) my cognitive abilities are better than ever, but I developed FND. I recently saw an FND neurologist for a second opinion. He endorsed the FND diagnosis, but remarked on all my physical injuries/surgeries and the fact that 2 years of psychotherapy made no difference at all to my symptoms (in fact, I got anxious/depressed from all the gaslighting!). I told him that the psychologist I saw thought I might be "a bit autistic" and he said that people with FND often are, which was news to me because it's not in the literature. I believe there's an awful lot more to FND, but unfortunately most doctors seem wedded to the old Freudian "primary/secondary gain" thing. So frustrating.