Thinking and Social Skills in Functional Neurological Symptoms
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Contribution of Self-focused Attention and Action Understanding to the Clinical Presentation of Functional Neurological Symptoms
IRAS ID
170635
Contact name
Egberdina-Józefa van der Hulst
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Director of Research Management, Director of Administration (Health Schools)
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 20 days
Research summary
Patients with Functional Neurological Symptoms (FNS) experience symptoms in the body which, to a large extent, cannot be explained by medical or physical causes, including neurological illness or injury. People with the 'motor' subtype of FNS may have symptoms such as weakness, shaking or paralysis.
FNS-patients may also suffer from simultaneous psychological problems such as depression or anxiety, and difficulty with controlling negative emotions. Furthermore, FNS-patients can experience problems with thinking skills (for example concentration or memory), and in social functioning. Little is known about these latter two areas of psychological functioning in FNS; the study therefore aims to examine these domains more thoroughly.
This study will take the form of a one-off assessment consisting of puzzle-like tasks and questionnaires, and will take approximately two hours. The assessment will measure thinking skills such as concentration, language comprehension and memory abilities, as well as feelings, relationship and personality functioning. Results will be compared to those from people without FNS, who consist of people with and without anxiety or depression, to see if FNS-patients are different from people without FNS in how they respond. FNS-patients will be recruited from Neuropsychiatry outpatient and inpatient clinics at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM). Control group participants will be recruited from the community, university and a database of patients from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust who have consented to be contacted about research.This study will help us to obtain a more detailed picture of psychological difficulties in FNS-patients, and help to increase knowledge in this currently under-researched area. Importantly, the results may provide information and recommendations about how to better support FNS-patients psychologically with their difficulties, and lead to improved therapy strategies.
This research has received a small amount of money from King's College London Doctorate of Clinical Psychology course.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0939
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jul 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion