Neurologist, 23 years’ experience, UK
This chapter focuses on the experience of a Neurologist when he saw patients with Dissociative Seizures twenty years ago as a trainee. At that time, the diagnostic label was very clearly “pseudoseizures,” and the prevailing attitude among the senior Neurologists training the Neurologist was that this was a problem closely allied to malingering. The emphasis was on looking for reasons that the events were “not epilepsy,” with no thought of how to understand, explain, or treat the problem. Tales were told of patients who had been threatened with or given painful stimuli, for instance with a large-bore cannula, leading to them “come round.” All this reinforced a culture of negative attitudes and care. Even though the Neurologist did not take part in these activities, it is horrifying to think not only how that was standard practice but also how it still is in many healthcare institutions around the world. Hopefully, high-quality research, especially treatment trials, will be the lever that can slowly lead to a change in attitudes and practice across the whole medical community.