Innovative ways to treat psychogenic nonepileptic seizures

“All of a sudden, someone tells them that this is all in their head, and they think they’re crazy, but they’re not,” he says. “They’re sick; it’s a condition just like schizophrenia, just like depression.”

Mahon, who was adopted at a young age and spent time in foster care, says she didn’t realize there was anything wrong with her when she got the headaches.

“I had to store a lot of [trauma] when I was young, apparently, and I didn’t realize that I did that,” she says.

“These seizures are mimicking what you are feeling — your body is expressing it,” she says. “As a child somewhere you suppressed a trauma, and now that your life is finally in order and you feel good about yourself, your body is telling you to look back inside — there’s still something that you have to deal with.”

Syed says many PNES patients have a hard time with the diagnosis because they expect something physical, not psychological, is wrong. Mahon didn’t have that problem, fortunately. She was happy to try a drug-free way of treating her PNES.

For six months, she met weekly with Syed for 15-minute meditation sessions, during which she learned to relax and focus on one thing at a time. First, she learned to breathe, then to slowly focus on one problem from her past.

“Like a computer with a recycle bin, I can look at the problem I’m having and then click it away,” she says. “Then on to the next one.”

Mahon, who started seeing Syed once a month after the initial intensive sessions, only has one seizure event a month now and thinks she will soon be free of them completely. She hopes to return to work as a corporate flight attendant in September.

“Meditation has become a part of my life,” Mahon says. “Dr. Syed has really helped me get through my problems and the pains that I have inside so that I am now able to live freely.”