Trick or treat? Showing patients with functional (psychogenic) motor symptoms their physical signs.

Abstract

Functional (psychogenic) motor symptoms are diagnosed on the basis of positive signs of inconsistency or incongruity with known neurologic disease. These signs, such as Hoover sign or tremor entrainment, are often regarded by neurologists as 'tricks of the trade,' to 'catch the patient out, ' and certainly not to be shared with them. In this reflective article, the authors suggest that showing the patient with functional motor symptoms their physical signs, if done in the right way, is actually one of the most useful things a neurologist can do for these patients in persuading them of the accuracy of their diagnosis and the potential reversibility of their symptoms.