Dissociative seizures - A critical review and perspective

Abstract Dissociative seizures are commonly recognized as both a challenging and a poorly understood condition. Though research and publication activity is high, advances in knowledge and insight seem only moderate in recent years. This review focuses on some relevant problematic issues, which might account for a still unsatisfactory research state. A general tendency to deal with dissociative seizures as an assumed disorder in its own nosological right and not as a sole symptom of an underlying psychiatric disorder is most likely one of the major roots of the problem. Unfavorable impacts of this confusion pertaining to clinical management, therapy, and outcome of dissociative seizures are discussed. An alternative point of view, based on the immanent psychiatric and psychodynamic roots of dissociative seizures, is considered.