Participating patients received information leaflets about their condition as a minimum before they received any further assessment and treatment. This gave them access to information to which they could refer at a later date.

By taking part in the comparison between treatments they are helping us understand more about treatments that are effective in helping people with dissociative seizures. We cannot be sure at this stage which of the two treatments we are comparing will help the most.

If the CBT plus standardised medical care is found to be more effective, this may affect what treatments are offered to people in the future by the NHS.

In terms of risks, when people are seen by a psychiatrist, attend CBT sessions (if they are allocated to that part of the study) and fill in questionnaires, they may end up thinking and talking more about their feelings and about things that have happened to them as well as about their seizures.

For some people, this may be upsetting. However, psychiatrists and CBT therapists are used to helping people in distress and may be able to help patients manage these feelings. Patients were not entered into the comparison study if they and their doctor felt this was not suitable for them.

In addition, completing questionnaires, attending CBT and research interviews all take people’s time.