Unmet needs in functional neurological disorder related to digital healthcare
Synopsis
This discussion article systematically maps six ways digital healthcare could address unmet needs in functional neurological disorder (FND)—using large biobank and clinic datasets to reveal epidemiology, comorbidity, mechanisms, economic burden and possibly treatment effects; augmenting complex and time-consuming assessment processes that exceed clinical capacity with artificial intelligence; improving diagnostic precision through automated tremor analysis, quantification of functional motor signs and speech recognition; improving self-management and access to therapy via online tools and telehealth; improving outcome measurement and existing therapy with wearables and telehealth; and developing new therapies such as AI-assisted therapies, biofeedback and virtual or augmented reality—while
Regions yielding the most discriminative connections in a study of 86 patients with FND and 87 healthy controls, having whole-brain resting-state functional MRI. The groups were distinguished with imaging alone, with a pooled accuracy of 72%. Reproduced with permission from Weber et al. [ 41 ].
PubMedInterpretation
The article proposes that digital healthcare can address unmet needs in FND across six specific areas: data-driven epidemiology and mechanism research, AI-augmented assessment, digital tools for diagnostic precision, online self-management and remote therapy, wearables for outcome measurement, and new therapies including AI-assisted therapy, biofeedback and virtual or augmented reality. Compared with prior discussions focused on single steps, this places multiple gaps across diagnosis, treatment and service delivery within one digital healthcare framework, forming a needs map for the condition. This is a framework-level synthesis in a discussion article, based on the author's overview of existing digital healthcare directions rather than newly collected empirical data.
The article states that artificial intelligence can augment complex and time-consuming assessment processes that currently exceed clinical capacity, and can improve diagnostic precision through automated tremor analysis, quantification of functional motor signs and speech recognition. It reframes AI from a general technical capability toward a specific clinical bottleneck in FND assessment, emphasizing a supplementary rather than substitutive role. This is directional discussion; the text illustrates possible tool types by example without presenting specific study data or validation results.
The article highlights that digital healthcare carries risks of depersonalization, privacy breaches, therapeutic substitution, digital dependence and digital exclusion, and notes that positive therapist effects—variability in outcomes driven by the clinician rather than the intervention—remain difficult to replicate digitally. Alongside promoting digital tools, it treats the therapeutic relationship and equitable access as equally important considerations, cautioning that technological extension should not erode the clinician-patient relationship. Based on the author's discussion of clinical practice and digital healthcare characteristics, this is an opinion-based risk note without quantitative evidence.
Perspective
This article is positioned as a mapping of digital healthcare needs for the specific condition of FND, intended for clinicians, researchers and tool developers concerned with its diagnosis, treatment and service delivery. The six directions can serve as a starting point for subsequent research and tool design, with applicability depending on specific clinical settings and digital infrastructure.
The article is primarily directional discussion and does not provide specific validation data, sample sizes or effect sizes for each digital tool in FND, so the maturity and priority of each direction still require confirmation by subsequent research. In addition, because this reading is based on abstract-level text, any figures, cases or supplementary details in the article are not included, and judgments are limited to the available text.