Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 28/09/20266/It is a legacy that the medical profession should be ashamed of. It's time to move on from the simplistic 'psychogenic' dustbin and into a new paradigm understanding of these complex conditions. I genuinely hope I will live to see this in my own lifetime. 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 28/09/20265/The dangerously simplistic approaches applied to complex conditions like FND, ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia etc, have caused incalculable harm to patients, this is a truly broken area of medicine where doctor patient relations have been shattered by institutional betrayal and trauma. 130
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 28/09/20264/We need a completely new language to understand this profoundly new way of looking at nervous system and immune interaction. The concepts and language of the old paradigm need to go. Terms like psychogenic, somatisation, somatoform disorder are fundamentally meaningless. 110
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 28/09/20263/The problem is so few medical professionals actually understand this way of looking at things and are still wedded to outdated paradigms, or are trying to find a way to make the old psychogenic paradigm fit with modern neuro scientific concepts such as predictive processing. 110
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 28/09/20262/Conceptual frameworks such as predictive processing, active inference, and cell danger response, provide much more useful models for trying to understand this hugely complex condition in my view. 110
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 28/09/20261/ conversion disorder and deconditioning/illness beliefs model have been a simplistic disaster, ME/CFS should be under neuro immunology, not the pseudoscientific dustbin of 'psychogenic illness' - www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...theguardian.comAbandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George MonbiotChanges in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot 1174
Reposted by Tom PlenderJon Stone @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social · 04/06/2025"Inside FND" - a new short film about FND A film that draws on evidence from patients, clinicians and research to counter common misconceptions about Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). 🧵 www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDAv...youtube.comInside FNDYouTube video by Jon Stone 32215
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 20/07/2026This study has a lot of limitations - I don't think the bold claim that "highly sensitive people don't actually have sharper senses" can be a definitive made based on a single study. That is bad science and a prime example of how the media distorts science. 000
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Wholehearted support for shifting towards a “culture of curiosity” - love this! And also for taking human health and illness on its own terms. I’m personally very tired of some of the debates around FND, ME/CFS, etc, which feel stuck in old frameworks that won’t work - 231
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026This is very thought-provoking! I agree that medical systems - especially training - can select for false certainty and a sort of imperial mindset, Have heard from a number of docs that “I don’t know” isn’t an acceptable answer. IMO the false functional-organic distinction makes this worse. 131
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 15/07/2026It would be nice to see the medical profession move from hubris and omnipotence to a 'culture of curiosity' combined with a culture of 'humility' - I live in hope 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Absolutely agree, so many of the debates are stuck in old and simplistic frameworks 020
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20268/The danger of those with narcissistic pathology being drawn to positions of power within major institutions may not be limited to medicine, it may be a fundamental human problem reflected in politics and the corporate world etc 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20267/If we only look at the "system" without analysing the psychological profiles that design and maintain that system, we are just treating symptoms. We have to ask: Is medicine's culture of infallibility a bug, or is it a feature that attracts those who crave power and control? 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20266/But we must go deeper: Who does this system select for? Narcissistic personalities are often drawn to power like moths to a flame. If a system rewards omnipotence and penalizes vulnerability, it will naturally elevate those who possess these traits,and exclude those who don't. 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20265/I deeply respect the doctors who have walked beside me, but we have to ask: How does this culture of "professional infallibility" actively hinder the evolution of medicine? Is it time to shift from an institutional culture of certainty to one of curiosity? 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20264/The danger isn't that all doctors are narcissists; the danger is that the institution demands an image of omnipotence. It refuses to say "We don't understand this yet," and instead mandates that if science hasn't mapped it, the patient must be the one at fault. 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20263/In psychology, one of the hallmarks of narcissism is an inability to admit to mistakes, to sit with "I don't know," or to acknowledge limitations. When an institution adopts these behaviors as a collective norm, it creates a culture of gaslighting. 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20262/We see a repetitive pattern. When a condition falls outside the current diagnostic framework—FND, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, protracted withdrawal from antidepressants—the system’s default response is often to dismiss the patient’s reality as "all in their head." 120
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 14/07/20261/Is it time to have an honest, systemic debate about “Institutional Narcissism” in medicine? This is not about attacking individual doctors—many of whom are brilliant, compassionate, and working within a flawed structure. It is about a structural refusal to admit limitation 130
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 26/06/2026@fndportal.bsky.social @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social @katerinafoto.bsky.social @timnicholson.bsky.social 110
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 26/06/2026PLEASE SIGN IF YOU CAN - My sister is an anthropology lecturer at Exeter University, they plan to slash the budget for social sciences, this represents an existential threat for the social sciences and will harm the student experience. www.change.org/p/stop-redun...change.orgSign the PetitionStop Redundancies at the University of Exeter 131
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 10/05/2026Fascinating article by Carlo Rovelli - 'There is no hard problem of consciousness' www.noemamag.com/there-is-no-...noemamag.comThere Is No ‘Hard Problem Of Consciousness’ | NOEMAConsciousness is not separate from the physical world — our “soul” is of the same nature as our body and any other phenomenon of the world. 110
Reposted by Tom PlenderDavid L Perez MD, MMSc @davidlewisperez.bsky.social · 13/01/2026Findings in this @biologicalpsych.bsky.social CNNI paper are complementary to other results published using graph theory metrics in @braincomms.bsky.social. Check out this 20 minute lecture by Christi Westlin that connects the two papers! 8/8 youtu.be/0Zjs-7lf6fA academic.oup.com/braincomms/a...youtu.beInside the Predictive Brain: Neuroimaging Insights into Brain Circuitry in FNDYouTube video by David L Perez 0105
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 09/04/2026Transcranial ultrasound stimulation of the amygdala! Potentially useful for FND?? 052
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Laura Graham who is a masters researcher at York St John University UK is studying FND. She also has FND herself. She’s doing an international anonymous online survey if you would like to take part here's a link - yorksj.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...yorksj.eu.qualtrics.comQualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience ManagementThe most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today. 141
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 02/03/2026A while ago I gave a talk at the London Medical Society on “functional” vs “organic” illness (it was rough, I was nervous). Now Ben Stecher, an awesome Parkinson’s advocate-researcher, analyzes it in this lovely blog post to examine overlap of FND + PD Delighted! 🙏 tmrwedition.com/2026/03/02/t...tmrwedition.comRethinking FND in Parkinson's: Beyond the Organic BinaryThe organic vs. functional binary fails Parkinson's patients. Discover why Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) require an embodiment framework to treat. 1122
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 20/03/2026This looks great- the language of predictive coding maps really well on to my experience of FND and how rehab works - 'as arising from a dynamic miscalibration in the brain’s confidence, or “precision,” in its own predictions' 'calibrating the brain’s predictive weighting' 000
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 18/03/2026The level of complexity is immense, I hope that we do one day have the full paradigm shift I long for - a move beyond mindbody dualism, and with it a complete re evaluation and deeper understanding for people with so-called mental illness. 130
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 18/03/2026@fndportal.bsky.social @katerinafoto.bsky.social @edinpublishing.bsky.social @nielsdetert.bsky.social 121
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 18/03/20263/ " - are seen as social inconveniences for which sufferers have much to answer. Individuals are to be blamed for their character flaws, defective emotional modulation, and so on; lack of willpower is supposed to be the primary problem" - Antonio R Damasio, 'Decartes Error' 121
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 18/03/20262/" It reflects a basic ignorance of the relation between brain and mind. Diseases of the brain are seen as tragedies visited on people who cannot be blamed for their condition, while diseases of the mind, especially those that effect conduct and emotion - 111
Tom Plender @tomplender.bsky.social · 18/03/20261/"The distinction between diseases of 'brain' and 'mind', between 'neurological' problems and 'psychological' or psychiatric ones is an unfortunate cultural inheritance the permeates society and medicine, 121
Reposted by Tom PlenderTim Nicholson @timnicholson.bsky.social · 26/01/2026Just over 2 weeks left to submit your abstracts to the @fndsociety.bsky.social for the biannual FND international conference in Baltimore! Do come & support this new society for what must be medicine’s oldest & most enigmatic disorder! @https://www.fndsociety.org/biennial-meeting/2026/abstract 062
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 22/01/2026This is great - a really nice overview of recent FND network studies, and a friendly introduction to predictive processing theory in FND 🙌 065
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 01/12/2025Too bad these conditions are among the most stigmatized, and so the least researched (This goes for FND too!) Sometimes it feels like a real “we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas” kind of situation 021
Reposted by Tom PlenderJon Stone @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social · 13/12/2025New @aanmember.bsky.social guidelines for the management of functional seizures led by Ben Tolchin. A landmark for people with FND worldwide. ✅Rigorous evidence-based process ✅Consensus practical recommendations ✅Endorsed by @fndsociety.bsky.social www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/... 2158
Reposted by Tom PlenderGail Davies @gailfdavies.bsky.social · 22/12/2025New paper outlining a spatial account of #FND and proposing an approach to the co-production of functional symptoms. It draws on my longstanding work on geographies of health knowledges, my recent health experiences, and emerging interdisciplinary conversations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 13411
Reposted by Tom PlenderTim Nicholson @timnicholson.bsky.social · 22/12/2025Such a superb, insightful & brave paper from @gailfdavies.bsky.social who so eloquently captures and describes what many of us have noticed about the evolution of symptoms as a result of patients’ interactions with the medical system👏👏💪🏻💪🏻 Straight into my top 10 of best papers ever on FND👌👌 183
Reposted by Tom PlenderJon Stone @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social · 23/12/2025Reclaiming 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/... 1167
Reposted by Tom PlenderFNDcourage @fndcourage.bsky.social · 30/12/2025As this year closes, hope may not feel loud or triumphant. It may be quiet, tender, or barely noticeable. It may be found in rest, self-kindness, or making it through one more day. If this year took more than it gave, know you are still worthy. Feather-light hope is still singing within you. #fnd 021
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 12/12/2025How gratifying that this is finally out! And what a pleasure to colllaborate on this. I hope it’s a real step forward for clinical care of people w func seizures. Also a wonderful learning experience for me personally - extremely rigorous methodology thnx to Maryam Oskoui and co-authors 2113
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 04/11/2025I'm heartbroken to learn of the passing of Dr. Mark Hallett. A few thoughts in remembrance… 1124
Reposted by Tom PlenderFND Portal @fndportal.bsky.social · 20/10/2025An important study (IMO) looking at social dynamics re: FND on Twitter. People w FND face continual attack by a variety of groups who dismiss our condition and experiences - ranging from abusive clinicians to other disabled people. It makes it even harder to exist in public with this dx. 0147
