Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Spells in Children

Psychogenic non-epileptic spells are a form of conversion disorder which is characterized by “seizure like episodes” often misdiagnosed as epilepsy. These are frequently seen in adults with female predominance but occur also in children. The gold standard, for a definitive diagnosis, is inpatient video-EEG monitoring in a specialized epilepsy monitoring unit to capture these episodes. There is paucity of literature about psychogenic non-epileptic spells in children and adolescents resulting in delay of diagnosis, oftentimes by several months. In this review, we discuss the current available literature about the incidence, clinical semiology, diagnosis and management of PNES in this subgroup of patients.