Hysterical, or pseudo, seizures

Abstract

There are children whose behavior has conveyed to others that they are not themselves in a manner that has made those others believe that they were having a fit, though (so far as we can tell) they were not. There are similar expressions of distress that have a different outcome. They are construed as an emotional outpouring of no medical significance. Doctors only become involved if the believer, or significant others, think the person might be sick. Who is responsible for what then ensues deserves discussion since about one in five of those offering a history of “seizures” to neurology outpatients only think they have them. A false belief about seizuring (aka Hysterical Epilepsy and/or Pseudoseizures) does not differ in any significant way nor have interestingly different psychological antecedents from any other false beliefs about being diseased (Medically Relevant Hysteria). But what there is to ‘treat’ is not the fit but the belief; and the most important believer may not be the person with the odd behavior. In the case of pseudoseizures, that believer’s concern is innocent. (See also Outlandish Factitious Illness in this volume) Belief is an assent to a proposition whose primary attributes are its truth or falsity. Beliefs can become convictions and so persist and look to convert others to that belief. Knowledge however requires the attainment of certain facts as a result of a