Why one of the most common brain disorders is also one of the most misunderstood

“It’s all in your head.” By the time many people with functional neurological disorder arrive in our clinic, they have heard these five words more times than they can count. They are told their brain scan was normal. Their electroencephalogram, a test that measures the brain’s electrical activity, is reassuring. “The good news is you don’t have epilepsy,” they’re told. No test can explain why they can’t walk without falling, why their leg won’t stop trembling, or why they experience seizur...