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Suzanne O’Sullivan, a practising neurologist, in her first book It’s All In Your Head (2016), explored some mysteries of psychosomatic disorders based on individual patients’ accounts.1 In The Sleeping Beauties, she describes how cultural and social factors determine the presentations of functional neurological disorders (FND) in different communities and cultures, in locations including Sweden and the Amazon. Those in our group who had read her previous work appreciated the evolution of her writing towards a distinctive authorial style and voice.
From the start, she makes clear her reservations about the term FND, prompting a long group discussion about the term, and in particular about how well it reflects the patient experience and the extent of shared understanding between them and their healthcare professionals. Given the heterogeneity of clinical presentations, is the term too general? …
Footnotes
Contributors All authors contributed.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned. Externally peer reviewed by Jon Stone, Edinburgh, UK.
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