Does this sound familiar?

You may be living with FND if you:

• Have symptoms like weakness, tremors, seizures, gait problems, sensory changes, or syncope episodes – but your scans and tests don’t fully explain them.

• Feel as if your body switches off, freezes, or does things “to you” rather than with you.

• Find your symptoms are unpredictable and come at a high cost – affecting your ability to work, study, drive, parent, or maintain relationships.

• Have been told “there’s nothing wrong” or “it’s just stress,” and left feeling blamed or dismissed.

• Feel stuck between medical specialists, not sure who is actually supposed to help.

If any of this resonates, you are not imagining it, and you are not alone. FND is a recognised condition, and it is treatable.

What is Functional Neurological Disorder?

Functional Neurological Disorder is a problem with how the nervous system is working, not a sign that you’re “making it up” or “going crazy.”

In FND, the brain and body fall into patterns where normal movement, sensation, or awareness become disrupted. Signals between the brain and body can become “stuck”, misdirected, or overridden by survival responses.

The symptoms are real, often disabling, and can be as impactful as conditions like stroke or epilepsy.

Understanding FND as a functional problem – rather than “nothing wrong” – opens the door to targeted treatment that can help you:

• Make sense of your symptoms

• Reduce their intensity and frequency

• Regain confidence and function

• Rebuild your life in line with your values

My approach to treating FND

I work with FND using a holistic, integrated approach that brings together neuroscience, psychotherapy, and practical rehabilitation principles. Treatment is collaborative and tailored to you – your story, your symptoms, and your goals.

What we focus on together

• Understanding your symptoms
  We start by making sense of your symptoms in a way that is clear, non-blaming, and grounded in how the brain and nervous system work.

• Calming & retraining the nervous system
  We use strategies drawn from therapies like DBT and ACT, as well as nervous-system regulation skills, to reduce fight–flight–freeze activation and help your brain “re-learn” safety.

• Rebuilding function step by step
  We develop a graded, realistic plan to gently re-engage with movement, activities, and roles that matter to you (work, study, parenting, hobbies).

• Addressing stress, trauma & emotional load
  Where relevant, we work with the impact of past or ongoing stress and trauma in a way that feels safe and paced – never forcing you beyond your capacity.

• Supporting your relationships and identity
  FND can radically change how you see yourself. Part of treatment is helping you reconnect with your sense of self beyond the illness.

A common fear is that focusing on symptoms will make them worse. The approach used here is designed to reduce symptom threat and over-attention, not increase it.

What treatment with me looks like

1. Comprehensive assessment

   
   In our first sessions we will:

• Explore your symptom history and journey so far

• Review any previous investigations and diagnoses

• Understand how FND is affecting your daily life, work, and relationships

• Identify your main goals for treatment

2. Personalised treatment plan

Together we create a plan that may include:

• Psychoeducation about FND and the nervous system

• Strategies for reducing triggers and managing episodes

• Skills to regulate emotions, manage anxiety and panic, and cope with uncertainty

• Graded activity or movement plans (often in collaboration with physiotherapists / occupational therapists)

• Support with pacing, work/study adjustments, and communication with family / employers

• Medication review where indicated (e.g. for mood, anxiety, sleep, pain)

3. Ongoing support & review

We review regularly:

• What’s improving

• What’s still difficult

• Where we need to adjust the plan, add different skills, or involve other team members

The aim is not perfection – it’s progress and a growing sense of choice, confidence, and control over your life.

This approach is helpful if:

• you have a diagnosis of functional neurological disorder, or this has been strongly suspected by a neurologist

• you’ve had normal or inconclusive tests but disabling symptoms

• symptoms fluctuate or worsen with stress, fatigue, or overload

• you feel stuck between “neurology” and “mental health

• you want to understand your symptoms rather than fight them

• you want a structured, paced, multidisciplinary-informed approach

• you are looking for a validating, non-judgemental space to understand and work with your symptoms

• you want to regain your life

I work with adults and older adolescents, both in person in Tzaneen and Louis Trichardt and online throughout South Africa.