Structured psychiatric interviews were administered to 60 children with complex partial seizure disorder (CPS). 40 children with primary generalized epilepsy with absences (PGE), and 48 control children, aged 5 to 16 years. Significantly more patients with epilepsy had psychiatric diagnoses compared with the control children. There were no statistically significant differences, however, in the number of patients with CPS and PGE with psychiatric diagnoses. Other than a schizophrenia‐like psychosis found only in the patients with CPS, the two groups of patients had similar psychiatric diagnoses. The presence of psychopathology was related to significantly lower IQ scores and socioeconomic status, but not to seizure‐related factors. These findings suggest that the psychopathology of children with CPS and PGE reflects different subtle neuropsychological deficits.

No abstract

Investigated the Weigl's diagnostic significance by correlating it with several psychometric and personal variables, including degree of brain dysfunction. Forty‐three male, veteran, psychiatric patients were administered the complete WAIS, Hooper, Benton, and Weigl, and their ward psychiatrist estimated presence and degree of brain dysfunction. Although uncorrelated with brain dysfunction, the Weigl did correlate significantly with 13 of the 19 study variables involved in assessment of brain function. Factor‐analytic studies showed that the Weigl loaded significantly on the factor associated with neurological function. It was discovered that when a patient who is being screened can perform the conceptual requirements of the Weigl, then additional conceptual‐verbal tests (e. g., Similarities) are less useful in discriminating organicity than perceptual tests (e. g., Object Assembly). When a patient cannot shift on the Weigl, then further conceptual tests will be useful.