‘You’re a rational guy – sort your shit out’: The mind, the body, and functional neurological disorder

Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a common and disabling disorder that has been batted between neurology and psychiatry for well over a century. It disrupts the physical/psychological divide in ways that shake the foundations of Western medicine, and yet the disorder and those with FND are maligned – blamed, even – for not fitting boxes. First known as hysteria and then conversion disorder, ideologies around femininity, mental illness, and ‘unexplained’ physical symptoms nurture the ongoing normalisation of dualist divisions between mind and body and the attendant hierarchies of care. Today, people with FND (of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds) face this medical legacy in stigmatised language, experience ‘discourses of dismissal’ (compounded by membership in other stigmatised categories), and carry the question: Is it ‘real’ or is it ‘all in your head’? This raises the question of how dualism is navigated and understood by those with most at stake in this conversation – those who live with the disorder and its marginalised history.

In this presentation, I explore what dualism looks like in practice, offering insights into the often-invisible processes that keep medical divisions and their ‘truths’ in place. I foreground the stories of people with FND in Aotearoa, and draw from a range of supporting data, including written documents, media, medical archives, conversations with neurologists, and my own personal experience in this space.