You Can't Make This Stuff Up (#6)

As a neuropsychologist, I have expertise in understanding the neurological and psychological factors that can contribute to a patient's symptoms. For example, a patient can report memory problems because of a traumatic brain injury or because of depression. Many people are not aware that seizures can sometimes have a psychological origin and not be related to brain dysfunction. These are sometimes referred to as pseudoseizures or psychogenic seizures. Determining if a seizure is psychological can be difficult, but important, because the treatments are vastly different.

Well one day, when I was a working one of the hospital shifts, a patient was on the unit who the staff suspected was having pseudoseizures. However, despite numerous expensive diagnostic tests, they had been unable to prove this. A video camera was hooked up in his room so that he could be monitored from the nursing station, which is where all the charts are kept and where medical staff usually stays.

All of a sudden, the patient began having a "seizure-like episode," violently flailing around in bed and moaning. In a true seizure, environmental stimuli (e.g., yelling, slap in the face) cannot stop it. It must run its course. Knowing this, I stood up and called the patient's room. As the phone rang, the staff looked on in anticipation. Everyone watched as the patient suddenly stopped flailing around, looked around the room, picked up the phone, and said "Hello." Everyone just looked at me in amazement. After all of those fancy medical tests, a simple telephone call confirmed the presence of psychological seizures. Sometimes simpler is better.