This chapter discusses how a neurologist started a Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES) clinic. As an Epileptologist, the Neurologist would be best equipped to care for children and young adults who present with non-epileptic seizures. Patients with PNES often fall through the cracks because their condition lies between the land of Psychiatry and Neurology. The Neurologist hoped to serve patients with PNES who were lost in the gap between traditional Neurology and behavioral healthcare. Six months after its inception, a patient came to the newly established PNES clinic. The Neurologist learned from the chart review that the patient had been in inpatient Psychiatry care on more than one occasion several years prior. She had been treated for Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from repeated sexual and verbal abuse from a family member. Her somatic symptom–related disorder developed shortly after discharge from her first psychiatric inpatient care several years ago, which manifested as chest pain, dizziness, fainting, chronic nausea, chronic abdominal pain, eating disorder, severe malnutrition, headache, weakness, and PNES. The chapter then argues that each patient in the PNES clinic brings unique challenges that require a creative and individualized solution.
Measurement of Discontinuity of Psychiatric Inpatient Care
