Course Overview

Adults living with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) tend to present with a disconnection between mind and body; the two are not aligned. Often the body has been chronically neglected, perhaps abused or exposed to life adversities.

Most likely, the body has been signaling for years, but those signals have gone ignored; a traumatic history and disconnection contribute to the development of PNES.

During a nonepileptic seizure, the body acts independently from the mind. This in itself, strongly suggests that we must work on aligning both. In other words, we must heal the mind but also the body.

• Recovery from PNES requires tailored psychotherapies that specifically focus on the nonepileptic seizures as a symptom. Psychotherapy works with top-down interventions (e.g., seizure log, problem solving, cognitive and emotional processing) and down-up interventions (e.g., deep breathing and body scans).

• Equally important, patients benefit from engaging in the intentional care of their bodies and expression of self-love. In this lesson, we will cover topics including healthy sleep habits, nutrition, hydration, physical exercise that is safe for someone who has PNES, the importance of engaging with nature, how to push back on isolation, and ways to keep mentally occupied with novel and challenging activities.

Audience: Adults living with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES), caregivers, clinicians with an interest in augmenting self-care in their patients

Learning Points: Throughout this course, you will:
• Self-care is an important part of the recovery process from PNES and seizure disorders: Why it is so hard at first?

• How to work on improving sleep

• The importance of hydration and nutrition

• Keeping physically active while also being safe

• The benefits of being in nature

Course content

  1. Introduction to self-care in adults with PNES

  2. Sleep

  3. Nutrition and hydration

  4. Physical exercise with nonepileptic seizures

  5. The benefits of being in nature

  6. Final thoughts about how self-care plays an important role in recovery from PNES

About this course

  • $18.00
  • 6 lessons
  • 0.5 hours of video content

About Dr. Lorna Myers

Dr. Lorna Myers

Psychologist

Dr. Lorna Myers is the director of the Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) Program in New York and New Jersey, USA. She is a clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist and has been working with patients who have PNES and/or epilepsy for over 20 years. Her research has been published in a number of scientific journals, she has authored professional book chapters, and presents in meetings across the US and abroad. In 2013, she wrote “Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: A Guide,” a book for patients and their caregivers. Royalties from that book are donated to Epilepsy Alliance America, a foundation that awards scholarships to adults diagnosed with PNES to help with the costs of their studies. In 2023, together with her Dr. Julia Doss, she co-authored “The Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizure Pocketbook.”

Dr. Myers is a certified prolonged exposure therapist and clinical supervisor and has pioneered the modification and use of this treatment modality for patients diagnosed with PTSD and PNES. She is also certified in integrative hypnosis.

Other interesting facts about her is that she is fluent in English and Spanish, and her other main research interest is in multicultural topics including treatment of bilingual and bicultural (or monocultural Hispanic) patients and the study of neuropsychological measures for Spanish-speaking patients evaluated in the US.