What Would Convince You to Accept FND?

Firstly, my personal acceptance or rejection is irrelevant. Diagnosis should not be influenced by feelings, but by measurable, testable, and replicable evidence. The idea that merely accepting the diagnosis, rather than the treatment itself, improves outcomes should already raise eyebrows. Diagnosis and Management of Functional Neurological Disorder

That said, if all due diligence has been done, FND can serve as a useful construct, but only if we keep diagnostic doors open, avoid treating it as concrete, and remain honest about its subjective nature. Subjectivity and Diagnosis in FND

So, what would convince me? Instead of relying on non-specific fMRI results, which could reflect many other conditions, objective and measurable evidence is essential. Most importantly, the diagnosis itself must be falsifiable. Functional MRI Findings in FND

FND, being none of those, is therefore effectively a soft science, which I view warily because it relies on subjective interpretation rather than objective evidence, increasing the risk of misdiagnosis and missed treatable conditions.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), when potential underlying causes are found, they are treated as comorbidities, creating a kind of diagnostic insulation and acting as falsifiability shielding. Similarly, in a worst-case scenario where patients potentially die, the diagnosis is rarely questioned; instead, the doctor’s competence is blamed, which is a classic example of the no true Scotsman fallacy (not only do you need a neurologist, you need a special kind of neurologist, one with esoteric knowledge). No True Scotsman Fallacy

But they are saying this about ME in my Academic Hospital, ME is the same thing as FND and can be cured bij sports and CGT. Researchers such as Rosmalen, Stone are saying it to. Please stop this, my husband died because of these medical failure.

— Yvette (@Iefsworld) October 13, 2025

Transparency would also help. For instance, which “signs” were used to determine the diagnosis? In our case, why was the Hoover sign applied when cervical instability was clearly at play? Why ignore actual biokinetic data when it was provided? Hoover's Sign in Functional Weakness

Instead of blindly attributing all symptoms to FND (often over the phone in our case), it would be better to actually investigate. In our situation, most symptoms can be explained by previously measured, falsifiable conditions, which FND is not.

Ultimately, accepting something as nebulous as FND would make me complicit in my wife potentially sustaining permanent damage that could have been reversible, such as doctors dismissing her symptoms while ignoring clear evidence of dynamic cervical cord compression.