Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, recent advances and commentary on, Vasta et al., the application of artificial intelligence to understand the biological bases of the disorder

As many as 33 per 100,000 people experience episodes of paroxysmal impairment associated with a range of manifestations that can be motor, sensory, and/or mental and closely mimic and frequently mistaken for epileptic seizures (1). These episodes are termed psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). The prevalence of PNES episodes is much higher in epilepsy practices, reaching as high as 30% (2). The diagnosis of PNES remains a process of excluding epilepsy and thus leads to an average time from onset of these paroxysms to diagnosis of close to seven years.