The first session with adults diagnosed with PNES
Many PNES patients reach a psychotherapist after a long, winding path—some referred by neurologists, but most find treatment on their own via Google, social media, or sheer luck.
Course Overview
When patients arrive at the psychotherapist’s office to start treatment for PNES, they may have found their way to that office because their neurologist provided them with the therapist’s contact information, but the majority have traveled a circuitous path, finding their own way to treatment through Google, social media recommendations, or just plain luck.
Patients arrive with different levels of knowledge regarding their diagnosis and how psychotherapy is meant to help. If the are especially unclear about PNES and how to treat it, they may appear resistant, closed off, frustrated, confused, and even a bit angry. Session One offers a unique and extremely useful opportunity to disentangle many misconceptions, providing the patients with understanding, validation, information, and hope.
This webinar focuses on Session One with adults diagnosed with Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES) which is different than most first sessions with other psychotherapy patients.
This is mainly because these patients present with a very unique symptom: nonepileptic seizures.
Clinicians who have a working knowledge of PNES are in a strategic position to accomplish many crucial objectives, firmly laying the groundwork for positive therapeutic work and recovery.
This webinar illustrates how, at the end of this critical session, patients should leave the appointment feeling understood and validated, equipped with essential information on PNES and how treatment works, more educated about safety and with at least one tool to begin to use right away. As for clinicians, this first session should provide them with a clearer picture of patients’ histories, risk factors, openness to treatment, and prognosis.
Audience: Health professionals (mental health professionals including psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, psychiatric nurses, nurse practitioners, and psychological associates, etc.)
Learning Points: Throughout this course, you will:
• Appreciate the importance of assessing the patient’s understanding/acceptance of the diagnosis and motivation to recover
• Develop a clear explanation to provide patients with PNES regarding their diagnosis of PNES and how treatment can help them
• Note what seizure details and precursors (psychiatric and social history, major adversities) are important
• Learn how to discuss seizure safety with the patient
• Recognize which tools the patient can be provided and how they can be used
Course content
-
Assessing the patient’s diagnostic experience and understanding of PNES and treatment. How to counter misinformation by providing valid and clear explanations
-
Important risk factors to be on the lookout for
-
Prognosis
-
Tools for patients and typical treatment progression (regular and trauma-focused)
-
Safety considerations
-
Becoming part of the treatment team and final thoughts
About this course
- $18.00
- 8 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.