THE SCIENCE: WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE BRAIN?

Current research suggests that FND is a problem with predictive processing and attention.

The human brain is not just a passive receiver of information; it is constantly predicting what should happen next based on past experiences.

• Normal Function: When you move your arm, your brain predicts the sensation of movement and dampens the signal so you don't have to think about it.

• In FND: This predictive mechanism goes awry. The brain develops an abnormal "expectancy" of a symptom (like weakness or a seizure) often below the level of conscious thought. The brain then filters sensory data through this prediction, essentially creating the symptom it expects to find.

It is a "Network Disorder" Functional MRI (fMRI) studies have shown that patients with FND have abnormal connectivity between the parts of the brain that control movement/sensation and the parts involved in emotion and agency (the feeling that "I am doing this"). This disconnect explains why a limb can feel paralyzed even though the muscles are capable of working, or why a seizure happens without electrical storming in the brain.