Almost half of people with functional neurological disorder (FND) report having tried legal psychoactive substances—nicotine, alcohol, and cannabidiol—to manage their symptoms, finding them modestly effective. Fifteen percent have used illicit substances, mostly cannabis, reporting moderate effectiveness and minimal side effects. Many respondents (46%) would be willing to try medically supervised psychedelic therapy if proven safe and effective. The findings highlight that people with FND often seek alternative symptom management outside usual medical care and suggest that further research into novel treatments, including psychedelics, may be warranted.
Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a common, debilitating condition linked to abnormal brain networks, dissociation, interoception, and motor agency. This open-label neuroimaging protocol will administer 25 mg of oral psilocybin with psychological support to 24 people with chronic FND. Resting-state and task-based functional MRI sequences will be compared before and after psilocybin. Additional measures include interoception, somatisation, illness perceptions, suggestibility, and dissociation. Participants will be followed for three months. The study aims to probe mechanisms underlying FND and assess the safety and feasibility of psychedelic administration with psychological support in this population.