When Not a Seizure: Risperidone-Induced Acute Dystonia Mimicking Seizures in a Preschool Child

Introduction Paroxysmal nonepileptic events are common in young children and frequently lead to misdiagnosis as epileptic seizures. Drug-induced movement disorders, particularly acute dystonia, are an important but underrecognized cause of seizure mimics in pediatric practice. Second-generation antipsychotics such as risperidone are increasingly prescribed in children with autism spectrum disorder and, despite a favorable safety profile, can precipitate acute dystonia, especially during initiation or dose escalation. Informed Consent Written informed consent was obtained from the child's parents for publication of clinical details and images/videos. Publication History Article published online: 15 March 2026 © 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. A-12, 2nd Floor, Sector 2, Noida-201301 UP, India