Epilepsy, Mental Health Disorder, or Both?

Abstract

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), a subset of the seizure disorder family, represents a complex neuropsychiatric illness, where the neurological presentation may be complemented by varying severity of affective, behavioral, psychotic, or personality abnormalities, which, in turn, may not only lead to misdiagnosis, but also affect the management. This paper outlines a spectrum of mental health presentations, including psychosis, mood, anxiety, panic, and dissociative states, associated with epilepsy that make the correct diagnosis a challenge.

The Multi-Circuit Neuronal Hyperexcitability Hypothesis of Psychiatric Disorders

“…Referring again to Table 1, note that seizures themselves, which can be clinically indistinguishable from psychiatric symptoms [58][59][60][61], can, paradoxically, be used (in the form of ECT) to treat both seizures and psychiatric symptoms [52,53]. Although the mechanism by which ECT relieves psychiatric symptoms remains unclear, it is evident that clinical improvement occurs not during the seizure but in the aftermath of the seizure.…”

The Coexistence of Psychiatric Disorders and Intellectual Disability in Children Aged 3–18 Years in the Barwani District, India

“…In each case, psychiatrists used clinical observations, mental state examinations, parental interviews, and reviews of previous consultations to make a psychiatric diagnosis, incorporating the ICD-10 criteria. Because epilepsy shares characteristics of both neurological and psychiatric disorders [27], we categorized it with other psychiatric disorders in this study. Children with ID who developed psychiatric disorders during the time frame of the project were also included in the study.…”

Phenomenology and Therapy of Affective Disorders in Epilepsia

“…По данным ряда авторов, в межприступном периоде дисфорическое расстройство встречается в 54,8% случаев [19]. Межприступное дисфори-ческое расстройство включает в себя многие черты, харак-терные (по DSM IV критериям) для депрессии, но с «добав-лением эйфории» [20]. Рассматривая связь суицидальной активности с дисфорическими расстройствами и качеством жизни больных эпилепсией на основании обследования 82 больных, были сделаны выводы о том, что наибольшая суи-цидальная активность отмечается у 40,5% больных височ-ной эпилепсией при наличии более чем в половине случа-ев (52%) в картине болезни «аффективного соматоформно-го дисфорического расстройства» [21].…”