FND Treatment Standard Medical Options
Medical Treatments for Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) is a complex condition.
FND can alter the lives of people suffering from the range of FND symptoms and associated health issues.
We have heard many people say that they’ve been told to “Google FND” rather than being offered effective treatment options.
We don’t think that solution is good enough, which is why EasingFND was created.
FND is relatively rare. In the UK, it is reported that around 12 in 100,000 people (0.01%) are diagnosed with FND each year. That’s around 8,000 cases. However, many people living with the symptoms of FND know how difficult it can be to get a diagnosis, so we can assume there are many cases that are not diagnosed. FND is thought to account for between 5% and 15% of patients who have been referred to neurology services, making it a significant part of their work.
The issues with diagnosis and standard medical treatment mean that researchers believe somewhere between 50 in 100,000 (0.05%) and 1,600 in 100,000 (2%) “have” FND. That’s a huge range. With 70 million people in the UK, this means as many as 1.1 million people could be suffering with FND symptoms, and also suggests they’ve not been getting effective treatments.
This “0.05% to 2%” compares to Irritable Bowel Syndrome at 10%, chronic pain at 40%, or anxiety at 8%, which results in less FND research, training and awareness.
However, there has been really important research into the effectiveness of different treatments for FND, which is what we’ll be exploring here.
All the information present here is based, to the best of our ability, on formal medical research that has been published in peer-reviewed journals.
If you’re aware of any published research that can help to improve this page, please send us a message.
Medical Note
FND is a serious medical condition.
We strongly recommend getting medical advice and pushing (really pushing) your medical team for assessment, diagnosis and support.
That medical team might include your doctor (GP), neurologist, psychiatrist and others, because FND doesn’t fit neatly into the medical world.
Also, please tell them about EasingFND.com, our FND medical research pages, and the research into hypnotherapy for FND.
The information provided on this page is just information. It is not medical advice. The guidance provided by your medical team takes absolute priority.
Research into Medical Treatment for FND
We’ve been studying the medical research into treatments for FND, which suggests:
This information is based on our analysis of medical papers and published information. If you think we’re missing any important information, please let us know.
Details of Treatments for FND
Clinical Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy uses focused attention, imagination and therapeutic suggestion to help change automatic symptoms, sensations or movements.
A 2024 systematic review covering 35 studies and 1,584 FND patients found that more than 80% of treated participants experienced clinically significant improvement, with more than 75% experiencing complete or almost complete symptom resolution, at least in the short term.
For more information and to book specialist clinical hypnotherapy for FND, visit the EasingFND protocol for FND hypnotherapy.
Specialist FND physiotherapy
Specialist physiotherapy aims to retrain movement by redirecting attention away from the affected movement, encouraging more automatic movement and gradually rebuilding normal activity. Studies commonly report improvement in around 40–70% of participants, although results depend on how improvement is measured.
A large Physio4FMD trial (Nielsen et al., 2024) found that specialist physiotherapy did not produce significantly better physical functioning than ordinary community neurological physiotherapy at 12 months. However, more people receiving specialist treatment considered their motor symptoms improved, and there were benefits in some secondary outcomes. This suggests that physiotherapy can help, but specialist treatment is not universally successful.
Multidisciplinary rehabilitation
Multidisciplinary treatment combines several approaches, commonly including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychological support and education.
Broadly, around 40–70% of patients report some improvement (Guy et al., 2024), particularly in mobility and the ability to manage everyday activities. An eight-week outpatient programme reported improvements in symptom severity, mobility, mood and quality of life, although it was an observational study without an untreated comparison group. A separate randomised trial found that 47% receiving physiotherapy plus CBT reported improved health after five months, compared with 16% receiving education and supportive therapy (Macias-Garcia et al, 2024).
The really obvious question is why researchers didn’t include hypnotherapy within the multidisciplinary studies. We hope that future research addresses this very obvious gap.
CBT and Talking Therapies
Psychological therapies aim to identify and change patterns of attention, thoughts, emotions and behaviour that may trigger or maintain symptoms.
Studies (Goldstein et al., 2020) suggest that approximately 30–50% experience a meaningful benefit, although psychological therapy may improve quality of life or coping without eliminating neurological symptoms. In the large CODES trial, FND-specific CBT did not significantly reduce the monthly frequency of functional seizures compared with specialist medical care alone. It did, however, improve seizure bothersomeness, periods without seizures, psychosocial functioning and patients’ perceptions of their health.
Occupational therapy
Occupational therapy helps people return to everyday activities such as washing, cooking, working, socialising and managing fatigue or sensory overload. It may include activity retraining, pacing, establishing routines and reducing unhelpful avoidance. There is not yet enough research to give a reliable overall success rate. In a 2024 retrospective study of 77 people receiving sensory-based occupational therapy, greater participation in treatment was associated with greater clinician-rated improvement (McCombs et al., 2024), but the absence of a control group means that the specific effect of occupational therapy remains uncertain.
Speech and language therapy
Speech and language therapy may help functional problems affecting speech, voice, language, coughing or swallowing. Treatment can involve demonstrating that normal function remains possible, redirecting attention and practising normal, automatic speech or swallowing patterns.
Evidence is currently based mainly on small studies. In one case series of 20 people with functional speech symptoms, 18 improved, including three who became symptom-free (Goldstein et al., 2023). This is encouraging, but it does not yet provide a reliable success rate because there was no comparison group and the participants also attended a multidisciplinary FND service.
Medication
There is currently no medication proven to treat FND itself. Antidepressants, anxiety medication, pain treatments or sleep medication may still be useful when someone has an associated condition that aggravates their symptoms. Treating these problems may make it easier to participate in rehabilitation, but that is different from medication directly correcting FND. Medication should therefore generally be described as a supporting treatment rather than a primary treatment for FND. Gilmour et al (2020) provided a useful overview of the evidence and treatment approach using medication.
Book Your Free FND Consultation
We understand how confusing FND symptoms and diagnosis can be.
We offer a free 10 minute introductory call with our FND specialist and founder of EasingFND, Keith Dewey, to talk about your symptoms and treatment options.
Book your call here:
When you book your free introductory call with Keith, we will send you an email with confirmation of the booking and details of the Zoom online call link.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us. We are here to help.
The call will be an easy, relaxing conversation about your symptoms and ideas for treatments.