Psychotherapy
Specialist physiotherapy and occupational therapy help retrain movement, combined with CBT-informed psychotherapy to manage symptom triggers, seizure-like episodes and associated anxiety or low mood.
Condition
Functional Neurological Disorder
Your symptoms are real, and recognising FND is the first step towards getting better.
Functional neurological disorder (FND) causes genuine neurological symptoms — such as weakness, tremor, walking difficulty, numbness or seizure-like episodes — because of a problem with how the brain sends and receives signals, rather than structural damage.
A helpful way to think of it is a software problem rather than a hardware problem: the brain’s wiring is intact, but its functioning has been disrupted. FND is common, and it is not “imagined” or put on.
With the right explanation and rehabilitation, many people see significant improvement, and some recover fully.
Understand the person. Understand the problem. Find the right path forward.
How it may show up
What Functional Neurological Disorder can look like
Everyone’s experience is different. You may recognise some of these, and not others.
Movement
- Weakness in an arm or leg
- Tremor or jerks
- Difficulty walking or balancing
Seizure-like Episodes
- Episodes of shaking or collapse
- Episodes of unresponsiveness
- Not caused by epileptic brain activity
Sensation
- Numbness or altered feeling
- Changes in vision or speech
- Pain or fatigue
Daily Life
- Difficulty working or studying
- Reduced confidence going out
- Anxiety or low mood about symptoms
Understanding the condition
Understanding FND
In FND the brain’s networks for movement and sensation get stuck in unhelpful patterns, often influenced by attention, stress or physical triggers. Rehabilitation helps the brain retrain these patterns.
- Trigger
- Network disruption
- Symptoms
- Retraining
Assessment at Psymate
The right treatment begins with the right understanding.
- Presenting symptoms
- Severity
- Duration and course
- Functional impact
- Associated psychiatric symptoms
- Physical and neurological factors
- Sleep
- Substance use
- Previous treatment
- Family history where relevant
- Risk and safety
- Review of neurological examination findings and investigations
- Clear explanation of the diagnosis based on positive signs
- Screening for anxiety, depression, trauma and pain
- Assessment of physical function and daily activities
Start with a conversation
A clinician will take a careful history with you — and, where it helps, with people who know you well — to understand what is happening.
Psychiatry — the clinical core
Psychiatry means more than medication.
Your psychiatrist brings together diagnosis, clinical formulation, treatment selection, coordination of care, measurement and review.
PsychotherapyPharmacotherapyNeuromodulationLifestyle & Sleep InterventionsFamily CareRehabilitation
One person. One clinical plan. Multiple therapeutic modalities.
Treatment
How Functional Neurological Disorder is treated
Treatment is planned around you. These are the core approaches your care may draw on.
Explore Psymate Therapy
Pharmacotherapy
Medication is not a primary treatment for FND itself. It may be used to treat co-existing depression, anxiety, pain or sleep problems, and is reviewed regularly.
Not a routine treatment
Neuromodulation
Brain stimulation is being explored in research for some functional symptoms but is not a routine treatment. Rehabilitation and psychotherapy remain the main approach.
Additional care
Care shaped around this condition
Specialist Rehabilitation
Physiotherapy and occupational therapy designed for FND, focusing on retraining movement and rebuilding everyday activity.
Integrated care pathway
One connected path, from first conversation to lasting change.
- ASSESSA full picture of what you are experiencing
- UNDERSTANDA clear formulation, shared with you
- PERSONALISEA plan built around your goals
- TREATClear diagnosis + Specialist physiotherapy + CBT-informed psychotherapy
- MEASUREProgress tracked, not assumed
- REFINECare adjusted as you change
What recovery can look like
Recovery is more than fewer symptoms.
Improved movement and walking
Fewer seizure-like episodes
Return to work, study or daily activities
Greater confidence and independence
Better mood and sleep
FND is treatable, and with a clear understanding and the right rehabilitation many people regain function and confidence.
When to seek help
Consider an assessment when:
- You have been told your tests are normal but symptoms continue
- Symptoms are limiting your work, study or independence
- You have seizure-like episodes that are not epilepsy
- Symptoms are persistent or keep coming back
- They are causing you significant distress
- They are affecting relationships, work or education
- They are interfering with daily functioning
- They are becoming difficult to control
Urgent help
- New, sudden weakness, numbness or loss of speech should always be assessed urgently, even with a known FND diagnosis
- Immediate risk of suicide
- Serious risk of self-harm
- Severe behavioural disturbance
- Being unable to keep yourself or others safe
- An acute medical or psychiatric emergency
The Psymate promise
What you can expect from us
- You will be heard.
- Your symptoms will be understood in context.
- Your treatment will be planned, not simply prescribed.
- Your progress will be measured.
- Your care will evolve with you.
You are a person before you are a diagnosis.
Begin Care
You don’t need to know what treatment you need before seeking help.
That is what assessment is for.
PSYMATE
Passion for healing meets the power of technology.
Science-led. Human-centred. Connected across the journey.