The Pathophysiology of Functional Neurological Disorders

NCT02905877 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 16/0275
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 130
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Functional disorders, also called psychogenic or psychosomatic are very common, disabling and their costs to society are immense. Functional movement disorders are abnormal, involuntary movements, that are illogical in terms of classic neurology. Intriguingly, they typically manifest when patients pay attention to them and disappear with distraction. The investigators aim to further the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying functional neurological disorders in order to improve treatment. In particular they aim to understand the effect of attention on movement in general, on functional neurological mechanisms and on the sense of agency (of subjective control) over a movement. Patients with a functional neurological disorder, patients with an organic neurological disorder and healthy participants will perform simple tasks, such as reaching to a target, while additional tasks will manipulate their attention. The effects of these attentional manipulations will be analysed on several levels: movement performance, analysed by the kinematics and electromyography (EMG),and psychophysical measures, such as the sense of agency. If the hypothesis turns out to be true, then changing the attentional focus could be used as a treatment in functional neurological disorders.

Conditions

Functional Neurological Disorders

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Tremor severity, assessed by kinematics, under different attentional conditions

  1 year

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Sense of agency, assessed by intentional binding, under different attentional conditions

  1 year

Study Arms (3)

Functional neurological disorders

Initially especially patients diagnosed with a functional tremor.

Other: Behavioural study

Organic neurological disorders.

Initially especially patients diagnosed with a an organic action tremor (e.g. essential tremor or dystonic tremor).

Other: Behavioural study

Healthy control

Healthy age matched controls

Other: Behavioural study

Interventions

Behavioural study OTHER

reaching studies and other behavioural studies.

Functional neurological disorders; Healthy control; Organic neurological disorders.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

see below under inclusion criteria

You may qualify if:

• We will recruit three groups of participants:
• functional neurological disorders, e.g. functional tremor: diagnosed by a neurologist.
• organic counterpart of the functional neurological disorders, e.g. in the case of functional tremor, the organic counterpart would be organic tremor: presence of an organic tremor according to internationally recognised guidelines and diagnosed by a neurologist.
• healthy age-matched controls.

You may not qualify if:

• Healthy Participants: Major neurological disorder.
• All groups:
• Age under 18 or over 80
• Significant impairment in ability to give informed consent for study procedures due to significant cognitive impairment and/or inability to understand study literature,
• very severe tremor
• moderate or severe cognitive impairment

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University College, London: lead

Study Sites (1)

Institute of Neurology, University College London

London, WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Conversion Disorder

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Somatoform Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: OTHER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 2, 2016
• First Posted: September 19, 2016
• Study Start: September 1, 2016
• Primary Completion: September 30, 2019
• Study Completion: September 30, 2019
• Last Updated: March 27, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

GB (1)