iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

The study is observational, and longitudinal confirmation is needed. However, it challenges the view that inflammation around stressors is predominantly harmful and suggests that a well-regulated response (or the homeostatic capacity it reflects) may support recovery and resilience.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

The most favourable outcomes were associated with a dynamic response. Individuals with evidence of transient immune activation showed lower rates of anxiety, depression, cognitive difficulties, fatigue, pain-related symptoms, and functional neurological disorder.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Using electronic health care records from more than 300,000 individuals, we analysed leukocyte counts as proxies for systemic inflammatory responses around stressor exposure. We classified the observed patterns as persistently high, persistently low, or dynamic changes in leukocyte counts.

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Jon Stone @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Chronic Idiopathic Urinary Retention/ Fowlers syndrome is common in FND and vice versa. A new framework for non-surgical treatment, led by @IngridHoeritza1 & Sara McRae, is a step change toward reducing permanent urinary catheters and invasive surgery. zurl.co/LyaMB

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David L Perez MD, MMSc @davidlewisperez.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Sharing NeuroImage: Clinical issue on #FND. Includes 12 articles [11 original research papers]. Authors from Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Norway, Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, & the US. Editorial by #SelmaAybek, #KasiaKozlowska & I below. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Livia Asan @liviaasan.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

We looked at a global cohort of >145,000 patients with a record of FND in the last 30 ys in TriNetX: confirmed frequent comorbidities and outcomes often worse than in MS. Read in JAMA Neurology: tinyurl.com/yc4wfyaj Open access to the accepted manuscript: osf.io/rwtnp @fndsociety.bsky.social

jamanetwork.com

Comorbidities and Outcomes in People with Functional Neurological Disorder

This cohort study compared the prevalence of neurological comorbidities among people with functional neurological disorder versus those with epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.

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FND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

To lump or to split? That is the question. Here’s one study in favor of “lump”!

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Dr Susannah Pick @susannahpick.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Our new article highlights the presence and possible impact of cognitive symptoms in people with functional seizures or motor symptoms, also showing specific performance difficulties in attention and set-shifting in these #FND subgroups. Grateful to the team and participants🙏 doi.org/10.1017/S003...

doi.org

Cognition and metacognition in functional motor symptoms and functional seizures: a case–control study | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core

Cognition and metacognition in functional motor symptoms and functional seizures: a case–control study - Volume 56

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FND Ireland @fndireland.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Interesting research into the prevalence and persistence of sensory symptoms in those living with motor FND compared to those living with stroke. Well done @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social, Prof. Mark Edwards, Dr. Jan Coebergh, @roryhigginsphysio.bsky.social, @gnielsenphysio.bsky.social. #FND #Stroke

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Many thanks to my amazing co-authors Tom Pollak, @liviaasan.bsky.social, @bibastanton.bsky.social, @timnicholson.bsky.social, Mark Edwards and Richard Kanaan (from @kingsioppn.bsky.social, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, University Hospital Essen and University of Melbourne)

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Many healthcare settings are ill-equipped to meet the complex needs of people with FND. Their repeated clinical presentations may reflect unmet needs rather than 'doctor shopping' or feigning. It is essential to improve public awareness of FND and education across all healthcare disciplines.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Encouragingly, recorded malingering diagnoses declined over recent years. This could reflect improved awareness and greater understanding of FND.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Some findings suggested clinician bias that could contribute to overdiagnosis of feigning in FND: malingering was more commonly recorded in Black individuals, individuals with socio-economic difficulties, and also in those with other stigmatised disorders, including STDs, viral hepatitis and HIV.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Compared with FND cases without recorded feigning, those with feigning codes showed greater clinical complexity, including more psychiatric, neurological and medical comorbidities, greater socio-economic adversity, and poorer recorded outcomes, including higher mortality.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Records of malingering and (less common) facititious disorder were rare in FND, appearing in about 2.2% of cases. However, this was more common than in multiple sclerosis or depression.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

The study analyses diagnostic coding patterns in over 200,000 cases. We examined the prevalence of malingering and factitious disorder diagnoses in FND, their associated demographic and clinical characteristics, and potential evidence of clinician bias.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Delighted to share our paper in @braincomms.bsky.social: Clinical and demographic associations of recorded feigning in functional neurological disorder academic.oup.com/braincomms/a... Using a large international EHR database, we examined how often, and to whom, feigning codes are applied in FND.

academic.oup.com

Clinical and demographic associations of recorded feigning in functional neurological disorder

Analysing electronic health records, Berlot et al. found 2.2% of functional neurological disorder cases also had recorded malingering or factitious disorde

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Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience @kingsioppn.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Professor Jernej Ule @ulelab.bsky.social, School of Neuroscience and @crick.ac.uk, teamed up with molecular biology and cancer experts to use his expertise on mRNA 🧬 to understand how to turn our immune system 🤧 on and off. 🔗 Read more: www.kcl.ac.uk/news/a-balan...

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FND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

This is great - a really nice overview of recent FND network studies, and a friendly introduction to predictive processing theory in FND 🙌

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European Journal of Neurology @europeanjournalofneurology.ean.org · 08/01/2026

New-onset FND appears more likely after COVID-19 than other respiratory tract infections. Both the severity of the triggering illness and pre-existing individual vulnerability may contribute to the development of FND. 📚 Read now: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #FND @ean.org #WileyNeuro

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Jon Stone @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

I was asked by @braincomms to highlight their FND special collection which welcomes clinical and neuroscience research on every aspect of the condition. A chance to reflect on how FND has moved from miscellaneous to mainstream academic.oup.com/braincomms/a...

academic.oup.com

The Functional Neurological Disorder special collection in Brain Communications: bringing FND into the mainstream

Our Guest Editor, Jon Stone, introduces a special collection of articles focusing on functional neurological disorder.

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Jon Stone @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Reclaiming FND for Rehabilitation Medicine – new open access editorial Neurorehab colleague Phil Milburn-McNulty and I set out why Rehab Medicine is so well-suited to treating FND, why they historically haven’t and what can be done to change things. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work on this with @liviaasan.bsky.social, @timnicholson.bsky.social, @bibastanton.bsky.social, Tom Pollak and Mark Edwards.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Our results suggest that both the severity of the precipitating illness and pre-existing vulnerability contribute to the risk of FND. They may have implications beyond post-COVID context, offering insights into how acute medical stressors interact with underlying vulnerability to precipitate FND.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

The incidence of FND was higher after COVID-19 than after other respiratory tract infections. Following COVID-19, new-onset FND was more frequent in individuals with more severe acute illness and in those with greater pre-existing neurological, psychiatric and medical comorbidity.

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eClinicalMedicine – The Lancet Discovery Science @eclinicalmed.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

📢 December issue now online featuring #asthma, #pneumonia, #sepsis, #epilepsy, #HIV, #PCOS, #depression, #UTI, and much more with our editorial on the future of prostate cancer screening …all available #free #OpenAccess❗️ Read more here: www.thelancet.com/issue/S2589-... Attribution: Getty #MedSky

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European Journal of Neurology @europeanjournalofneurology.ean.org · 18/12/2025

While FND symptoms remain stable for most women during pregnancy, a subgroup experiences significant changes or new onset. 📚 Read the article “The Impact of Pregnancy on Functional Neurological Disorder (FND)” by Lehn et al. now: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @ean.org #WileyNeuro

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Michael Okun @michaelokun.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Did the late Mark Hallett crack the code underpinning the physiology of free will? Free will is the brain’s constructed awareness that we are choosing our actions even though the brain initiates them before we consciously know it. Mark Hallett was instrumental in describing how it all works.

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David L Perez MD, MMSc @davidlewisperez.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Four yrs in the making, @greenjournal.bsky.social Practice Guideline Executive Summary on the Management of Functional Seizures. First @aanmember.bsky.social published guideline on any #FND variant. Brilliantly led by #BenTolchin. @fndportal.bsky.social www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/...

neurology.org

Neurology® Journals

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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Psychiatric conditions show high comorbidity & genetic overlap, challenging diagnostic boundaries. @andrewgrotzinger.bsky.social et al applied cutting-edge statistical & functional genomics to 14 childhood- & adult-onset disorders (>1M cases) towards neurobiologically valid mental health nosology.👇🧪

nature.com

Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders - Nature

Genomic analyses applied to 14 childhood- and adult-onset psychiatric disorders identifies five underlying genomic factors that explain the majority of the genetic variance of the individual disorders...

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Mike Levin @drmichaellevin.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Final version is out: authors.elsevier.com/c/1mEoa5bD-s... "Neural cellular automata: Applications to biology and beyond classical AI" @bhartl.bsky.social Léo Pio-Lopez

authors.elsevier.com

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Grateful to share this work with my amazing coauthors: @timnicholson.bsky.social, @liviaasan.bsky.social, @bibastanton.bsky.social, Tom Pollak and Mark Edwards (@kingsioppn.bsky.social, University Hospital Essen and University of Ljubljana). #fnd, #neurology, #psychiatry, #neuropsychiatry

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Crucially, adverse life events are not universally present in FND and should not form the basis for diagnosis. However, when they are present, the nature of stressors shapes the clinical phenotype and should inform an individualised management approach.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Using TriNetX, an international electronic health records network, we observed that stressors were more common in FND than in matched migraine or generalised anxiety disorder cohorts, with psychosocial stressors particularly common. Stressor type and timing were associated with clinical features.

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Interventions that disrupt pathological equilibria may unlock a window for recalibration and promote recovery. Delighted to share this exciting work led by Tom Pollak (substack.com/@drtompollak), together with @drmichaellevin.bsky.social, Anjali Bhat, Matt Butler, and Mark Edwards

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Rok Berlot @rokberlot.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Many neurological and mental health conditions may persist because homeostasis can lock the brain and body in stable patterns that are hard to shift. Have you tried switching it off and on again? osf.io/preprints/ps... Our new preprint explores the idea of a therapeutic reset.

osf.io

OSF

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Michael Okun @michaelokun.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

A fantastic comprehensive review article w/ everything you need to know about Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. Johnson and Williams share that idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus is a common, frequently missed and potentially reversible neurologic condition in older adults. @nejm.org

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Jon Stone @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

@HarvardMedicine have done a great job with this article on FND, focused on the contribution of colleagues working there, including Barbara Dworetzky, David Perez and alumnus Mark Hallett. magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/fun...

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Functional Neurological Disorder Society @fndsociety.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

📣 Abstract submissions open Wednesday, Dec 3! Submit your work for the 6th International Conference on Functional Neurological Disorder — June 13–16, 2026 in Baltimore. 🗓 Deadline: Feb 11, 2026 – 11:59 PM PST Details: www.fndsociety.org/biennial-meeting/2026/abstract 🌍 Please help spread the word!

fndsociety.org

Abstract Submission | FNDS

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Michael Okun @michaelokun.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

How best to honor a giant and celebrate the late Mark Hallett’s legacy (1943-2025)? One way is for us to share his papers and teaching. This TMS Primer he wrote continues to be a big hit for all generations. @parkinsondotorg.bsky.social

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European Journal of Neurology @europeanjournalofneurology.ean.org · 14/10/2025

💪 Popkirov reports in that reduced grip strength reflects altered higher-order motor control, challenging its value as a biomarker of peripheral dysfunction. 📚 Read now: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #Neurology #MECFS @ean.org #WileyNeuro

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