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

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.The current study was part of a larger study on FMD, myoclonus and tics, encompassing a clinical and Bereitschaftspotential study (approved by the local ethics committee).3 4 Thirty-nine expert clinicians participated in a diagnostic study of 60 patients with FMD (n=28), myoclonus (n=15) or tics (n=17). Furthermore, 22 healthy control subjects were included.Clinicians were provided with a 4-item questionnaire. Clinicians were asked to rate the degree of voluntariness on a 100 mm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) ranging from 0 (completely involuntary) to 100 (completely voluntary) for different movements: (1) raising one’s hand to vote, (2) myoclonus, (3) …