Success for FND2017 International Conference on Functional Neurological Disorders
Nov 2017: The 3rd International Conference on Functional Neurological Disorders, held in Edinburgh in September 2017, and co-organised by CCBS researchers, was a great success.
From 6-8 September 2017, co-chairs Jon Stone, Alan Carson and Mark Hallett welcomed 561 delegates from around the world to FND2017, the 3rd International Conference on Functional (Psychogenic) Neurological Disorders, at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh.
Functional disorders are the second commonest reason for a referral to a neurologist. There have been two previous meetings focusing on functional movement disorders (2004 and 2009) and some stand-alone meetings on non-epileptic seizures; however, this is the first time that a meeting has covered all functional neurological disorders, adding sessions on symptoms such as dizziness, speech, and cognitive symptoms.
The large turnout was testament to rising interest in this field across many disciplines and countries.
The three days saw speakers cover phenomenology, aetiology/mechanism and treatment, covering the territory of the recent book Functional Neurologic Disorders (ed Hallett, Stone, Carson) Elsevier 2016.
New research networks covering outcome measures, functional movement disorders and American Neuropsychiatry Guidelines were highlighted at the meeting along with 125 high-quality research abstracts.
The success of this meeting (the organisers had been hoping for 250 delegates!) provided a landmark for the field and there are plans now in development for an new international society to maintain momentum.
Related links
Functional disorders research at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences
Dr Jon Stone Principal Investigator profile
Dr Alan Carson Principal Investigator profile