Clinician and patient perceptions of free will in movement disorders: mind the gap

Introduction Most people perceive that their actions arise from their own ‘free will’, commonly defined as the ability to choose how to act.1 Neurological disorders, such as epileptic seizures and movement disorders, are often regarded as conditions in which free will is undermined.2 Clinically, an action is considered involuntary when it is automatically performed and cannot be controlled. Our study aim was to explore patients’ views as well as clinicians’ views on ‘free will’ and voluntariness in three hyperkinetic disorders: tics, functional movement disorders (FMD, previously ‘psychogenic’ movement disorder) and myoclonus. We developed a questionnaire to determine to what extent patients in these three groups consider their ‘free will’ to be undermined by the movements induced by their disorder. We compared these findings with clinicians’ views of voluntariness in each of these movement disorders. Methods The current study was part of a...

Source: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry - May 23, 2017 Category: Neurosurgery Authors: van der Salm, S. M., Cath, D. C., Rootselaar, A.-F. v., Koelman, J. H., de Haan, R. J., Tijssen, M. A., Meynen, G. Tags: PostScript Source Type: research