Treating Nonepileptic Seizures Therapist Guide

The primary aim of Treating Nonepileptic Seizures: Therapist Guide is to equip physicians, psychologists, therapists, nurses, and other practitioners with a validated, step-by-step treatment for psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (NES) that can improve the lives of patients with this disabling disorder. Patients with NES frequently present in neurology, psychiatry, psychology, and emergency departments. The disorder has been documented in the medical literature for centuries, and much is known about the phenomenology, seizure characteristics, psychiatric comorbidities, neuropsychological testing, and psychosocial aspects in NES. However, until recently, much less was known about the effective treatments of patients with psychogenic NES.

This intervention provides guidance for clinicians in treating patients with NES and is designed to be used in conjunction with the patient workbook, Taking Control of Your Seizures. Session by session, the Workbook facilitates communication between treatment providers and individual patients with seizures. The authors' clinical experience with epilepsy and NES and research in developing the treatment approach for seizures directly informed the treatment model described. Many patients treated with the intervention have demonstrated improvements in seizures, symptoms, and quality of life.

W. Curt LaFrance Jr., MD, MPH, is Director of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology at Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Alpert Medical School, Brown University. He is the neuropsychiatrist for the RIH Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and a faculty member of the Brown Institute for Brain Science. He studied at Wake Forest University (BA in psychology), Medical College of Georgia (MD), and Brown University (MPH). He trained in Brown's combined residency in neurology and psychiatry and is double boarded. His research is in neuropsychiatric aspects of epilepsy, somatoform disorders, and Traumatic Brain Injury. He is co-editor of Gates and Rowan's Nonepileptic Seizures.

Jeffrey Peter Wincze, PhD, is a staff psychologist at Rhode Island Hospital and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University. He received his PhD in clinical psychology from Boston University and he worked and completed post-doctoral training at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University. He has been involved in federally funded research grants investigating the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders. He has published articles in the areas of anxiety disorders, compulsive hoarding, and biofeedback. His current research is focused on management of depression and treatment of conversion disorders.