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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Schizophrenia
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1527166
This article is part of the Research Topic Functional Neurological Disorders and Functional Dissociative Seizures: Bridging Neurological Insights and Psychiatric Care View all articles
Successful Management of Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures with Intranasal Esketamine
Provisionally accepted- Texas A&M University Central Texas, Killeen, Texas, United States
Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), or functional seizures (FS), are episodes that resemble epileptic seizures but may be psychological in origin. Unlike epileptic seizures, which are linked to abnormal electrical activity in the brain, functional seizures may be associated with psychological and/or physical distress, and do not show the same electrical patterns on an electroencephalogram (EEG). Esketamine, a derivative of the anesthetic ketamine, is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) with suicidal thoughts or actions. This report discusses a patient with TRD and PNES, where the administration of esketamine effectively resolved both conditions. It explores the potential therapeutic effects of esketamine on PNES, in addition to its antidepressant properties.
Keywords: Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, treatment-resistant depression, Esketamine, Functional seizures, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Psychotrauma, neuropsychiatric disorders, Anxiety
Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 07 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hashmi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Muneeb Hashmi, Texas A&M University Central Texas, Killeen, 76549, Texas, United States
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