Patients with this brain disorder are often accused of faking or exaggerating but it can cause tremors, tingling and even blackouts

It’s not all in their heads — but that’s what they’re told.A baffling brain disorder leaves people shaking, stumbling and sometimes completely blacking out, only to be doubted by doctors, friends and even family.The condition, which is called functional neurological disorder (FND), scrambles the brain’s communication with the body, leading to real and often disabling symptoms that look fake to the untrained eye.FND can cause sudden tremors, tingling, paralysis, vision loss and seizures, but — unlike classic neurological diseases like epilepsy or multiple sclerosis (MS) — it doesn’t show up clearly on brain scans.

That medical blind spot means many patients are misdiagnosed, dismissed or even accused of making it all up.Despite affecting more people than MS, FND flies under the radar, partly because it sits at the crossroads of neurology and psychiatry — a blurry intersection that leaves patients stuck in diagnostic limbo.An estimated 10–22 people per 100,000 per year have this disorder, which disproportionately affects women and youths.Researchers believe a combination of psychological stress, trauma and genetics can trigger the disorder, but no two cases look exactly alike.

Some patients develop symptoms after a physical injury, others after emotional upheaval — for some, it’s neither.Treatment usually involves a team approach, blending neurological care with specialized physical therapy and mental health support.

But experts warn that early recognition is key — the longer patients are left without help, the harder recovery becomes.The biggest hurdle? Stigma.“The origins of the disorder are deeply rooted in the sexist history of its pre-scientific ancestor — hysteria,” Benjamin Scrivener, a PhD candidate in medical and health sciences at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, wrote in The Conversation.

Hysteria was a term used for centuries to descr...