CONy 2022 | Mindfulness-based therapy for PNES

Barbara Dworetzky, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, discusses mindfulness-based therapy (MBT) for psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). An initial study was conducted on a group of patients with PNES to evaluate the efficacy of treatment with MBT – finding that 70% of patients had a 50% or greater reduction in the frequency of seizures and self-weighted intensity of the episodes. Following this, the investigators performed a second study to determine the sustainability of improvement of seizure-related measures at 3- to 6-month follow-up after treatment completion. Results showed that the patients who completed MBT maintained the previously reported improvements in seizure-related measures. Further work on the sustainability of MBT needs to be done with randomized controlled trials. This interview took place during the 2022 World Congress on Controversies in Neurology (CONy) meeting.