A new science of emotion: How brain-mind-body processes form functional neurological disorder

One of the most common medical conditions you’ve (maybe) never heard of – functional neurological disorder – lays at the interface of neurology and psychiatry and offers a window into fundamental brain-mind-body processes. Across ancient and modern times, functional neurological disorder has had a long and tumultuous history, with an evolving debate and understanding of how biopsychosocial factors contribute to the manifestation of the disorder. A central issue in contemporary discussions has revolved around questioning the extent to which emotions play a mechanistic and aetiological role in functional neurological disorder. Critical in this context, however, is that this ongoing debate has largely omitted the question of what emotions are in the first place. This talk first brings together advances in the understanding of working principles of the brain fundamental to introducing a new understanding of what emotions are. Building on recent theoretical frameworks from affective neuroscience, the idea of how the predictive process of emotion construction can be an integral component of the pathophysiology of functional neurological disorder is discussed.