Functional Neurological Disorder Unit: Outpatient Program

Our clinical program diagnoses and treats individuals suffering from symptoms such as:

• Functional limb weakness or paralysis
• Functional (dissociative) seizures
• Functional movement disorders such as tremor, jerks, tics, gait disorders or dystonia
• Functional speech disorders
• Functional cognitive disorders
• Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD)

The Mass General Functional Neurological Disorder Unit particularly specializes in treating people with functional motor symptoms that lie at the intersection of neurology and psychiatry. Our clinic is interdisciplinary – this means that at your first visit your doctor will go over a neurological and psychiatric history and physical examination. Our clinic is also multidisciplinary – this means that after your initial visit we recommend components of treatment based on your needs. Personalized, short-term (time-limited) treatments we recommend can include:

• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech and language therapy
• Skills-based or problem-focused psychotherapy, such a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Group psychotherapy (pilot program)

We provide patients with education around the diagnosis and ongoing follow-up for FND-specific care. Patients with more general neurology and/or psychiatry needs will also be encouraged to maintain or establish treatment relationships with providers in those disciplines.

Research Opportunities

The Functional Neurological Disorder Research Program at MGH, working in collaboration with researchers at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and others within the Harvard Medical School hospital community, is working to understand brain pathways that tell us why FND symptoms happen, what makes those symptoms worse, and why some patients are more likely to get better with treatment while others may struggle. We do this by looking at information from patients we have seen in the past, and also new patients that we follow over time.

We are greatly appreciative of individuals who volunteer in our research studies to help us better understand FND – why it happens, how it happens, and how we can optimally treat it. If you are interested in participating in FND research, please visit the Functional Neurological Disorder Research Program website for more information.

Note: Typically, before we consider you for enrollment in our research studies, you will need to have had a clinical evaluation in the Functional Neurological Disorder clinic.

Newsletter

Stay informed of the latest clinic and lab news by reading our latest newsletter.

Read the Fall/Winter 2022 newsletter.

Webinars

FND Unit Clinical and Research Updates Webinar

Our Team

The members of the Mass General FND Unit clinical team all have expertise in diagnosing and treating patients with functional neurological symptoms that lie at the intersection of neurology and psychiatry. Our team has two branches: our physician team, comprised of neurologists and psychiatrists, and our allied health team, comprised of psychotherapists and physical, occupational and speech and language therapists.

• David Perez, MD, MMSc

  • Department of Neurology
  • Department of Psychiatry
• Bruce Price, MD

  • Chief, Department of Neurology, McLean Hospital
• Daniel Millstein, PhD

  • Psychologist
• Aneeta Saxena, MD

  • Department of Neurology
• Christopher Stephen, MBCHB, MS

  • Department of Neurology
• Sara Finkelstein, MD, MSc

  • Department of Neurology
• Kevin Kyle, MB, BCh, BAO

  • Neurologist
• Caitlin Adams, MD

  • Department of Psychiatry
• Margaret Tuttle, MD

  • Department of Psychiatry
• Julie Maggio, PT, DPT, NCS

  • Board-Certified Neurologic Clinical Specialist
  • Physical Therapist
• Julie MacLean, OTR/L

  • Occupational Therapist
• Jennifer Freeburn, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Speech Language Pathologist
• Ellen Godena, EdM, MSW, LICSW

  • Clinical Social Worker