Opinion statement For the treatment of functional motor disorder, we recommend a three-
stage approach. Firstly, patients must be assessed and given an unambiguous diagnosis,
with an explanation that helps them understand that they have a genuine disorder, with the
potential for reversibility. A key ingredient is allowing the patients to describe all of their
symptoms as well as their ideas about what may be wrong. The patient should clearly
understand that the positive diagnosis is based on the presence of typical signs (eg …

Functional (also known as psychogenic) motor disorders are genuine weakness or
movement disorders (such as tremor, gait disorder or dystonia), but do not relate to
recognised neurological disease. Symptoms are involuntary and should not be confused
with feigning or malingering. The diagnosis should not be one of exclusion but rather based
upon positive clinical signs that primarily indicate internal inconsistency. In some cases
incongruity with recognised neurological disorder is also important but this is a lesser issue …