Theory of mind and epilepsy: What clinical implications?

Giovagnoli, Anna Rita; Parente, Annalisa; Villani, Flavio; Franceschetti, Silvana; Spreafico, Roberto

doi:10.1111/epi.12255

Cited by 63 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…An impaired capacity to understand mental states and to comprehend interpersonal relations could affect self-appraisal and adaptation capacities in subjects with OCD. 51 In agreement with a study by Giovagnoli et al, 52 we support the idea that mentalizing ability deficits predict self-rated cognitive functioning, strategies for coping with stressful events, and overall quality of life perception. The mentalizing ability deficit in OCD may have psycho-behavioral implications.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…53 Adequate comprehension of real mental states and interpersonal dynamics could help one avoid redundant thoughts or actions, make behavior fluid, or enhance feelings of belonging to a social group. 52 Several studies have shown that the association between ToM and psycho-behavioral alterations may reflect damage to common neural substrates that underlie ToM and emotional-behavioral control. 53,54 Regarding experiencesharing measures, OCD subjects did not differ from controls in the experience-sharing dimension (affective empathy) when other people expressed emotions with positive valence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Pino

Berardis²,

Mariano

et al. 2016

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

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Objective: To investigate empathic abilities in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) compared to control subjects. OCD is characterized by persistent obsessions and compulsions. Previous studies have proposed specific emotion recognition deficits in patients with OCD. The ability to recognize emotion is part of the broad construct of empathy that incorporates mentalizing and experience-sharing dimensions. Methods: Twenty-four subjects with a diagnosis of OCD and 23 control subjects underwent empathic measures. Results: Patients with OCD compared to control subjects showed deficits in all mentalizing measures. They were incapable of understanding the mental and emotional states of other people. On the other hand, in the sharing experience measures, the OCD group was able to empathize with the emotional experience of other people when they expressed emotions with positive valence, but were not able to do when the emotional valence was negative. Conclusion: Our results suggest that patients with OCD show a difficulty in mentalizing ability, whereas the deficit in sharing ability is specific for the negative emotional valence.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Pino

Berardis²,

Mariano

et al. 2016

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

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“…Although there is a paucity of experimental research of social cognition at present in epilepsy populations, those so far document particular difficulties in emotional recognition and theory of mind [56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66] in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) and idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE), with the addition of prosodic recognition and self-ratings of empathy in patients with refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) [59]. These clinical groups make up over half of the epilepsy population and therefore further understanding of these difficulties is paramount.…”

Section: Understanding Why Difficulties Arise In Social Competence Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, they provide important information as impairment in recognition of basic emotions is considered to be a prerequisite for ToM in ecological tasks [35] and in groups such as those with MTLE, ToM difficulties in some patients appear to be comparable to individuals with autism [59]. Furthermore, ToM is found to be the area that is most greatly associated with real life social functioning and community outcomes [67], self appraisal, coping and overall quality of life perception [57] and therefore is of significant clinical importance.…”

Section: Understanding Why Difficulties Arise In Social Competence Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Giovagnoli et al [57] suggest that an adequate comprehension of real mental states and interpersonal dynamics may limit superfluous thoughts and actions, which help behaviour to be fluid or enhances the feeling of belonging to a social group. Social Cognition Enhancement Training (SCET) [85], attempts to improve ToM related skills such as social context appraisal and perspective taking abilities.…”

Section: Social Cognition Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quality of life is social – Towards an improvement of social abilities in patients with epilepsy

Szemere

Jokeit

2015

Seizure

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Quality of life (QoL) for people with epilepsy is considered worse than the condition's clinical and medical prognosis would predict. Quantity and quality of social interaction considerably determine QoL. Research shows that a significant proportion of patients with epilepsy experience difficulties with social functioning that is thought to be related to impaired QoL. The aim of this review article is to provide an evidence base for conceptualising and developing interventions to improve quality of life through social functioning, for adults with epilepsy. Previous and current research is considered initially with regards to why such difficulties arise and established interventions that address social competence and functioning are reviewed and explored from the field of schizophrenia, a condition also associated with similar difficulties in social cognition, cognition and negative symptoms. The paper considers the advantages and disadvantages of these interventions, the outcomes and emerging research in this area. Positive findings are found from interventional studies in schizophrenia such as the enhancing potential and generalisation of training in social cognition, the benefits of an integrated approach to improving social functioning and proposal of 'online' interaction approaches. These findings provide interesting and exciting directions for the ultimate goal towards interventions for the improvement of social functioning and quality of life in patients with epilepsy. This is of particular significance as at present there is currently no such dedicated program for people with epilepsy.

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Hemodynamic correlates of emotion regulation in frontal lobe epilepsy patients and healthy participants

Benzait

Krenz

Wegrzyn

et al. 2022

Human Brain Mapping

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The ability to regulate emotions is indispensable for maintaining psychological health. It heavily relies on frontal lobe functions which are disrupted in frontal lobe epilepsy. Accordingly, emotional dysregulation and use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies have been reported in frontal lobe epilepsy patients. Therefore, it is of clinical and scientific interest to investigate emotion regulation in frontal lobe epilepsy. We studied neural correlates of upregulating and downregulating emotions toward aversive pictures through reappraisal in 18 frontal lobe epilepsy patients and 17 healthy controls using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Patients tended to report more difficulties with impulse control than controls. On the neural level, patients had diminished activity during upregulation in distributed left‐sided regions, including ventrolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, angular gyrus and anterior temporal gyrus. Patients also showed less activity than controls in the left precuneus for upregulation compared to downregulation. Unlike controls, they displayed no task‐related activity changes in the left amygdala, whereas the right amygdala showed task‐related modulations in both groups. Upregulation‐related activity changes in the left inferior frontal gyrus, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus were correlated with questionnaire data on habitual emotion regulation. Our results show that structural or functional impairments in the frontal lobes disrupt neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation through reappraisal throughout the brain, including posterior regions involved in semantic control. Findings on the amygdala as a major target of emotion regulation are in line with the view that specifically the left amygdala is connected with semantic processing networks.

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Theory of mind and epilepsy: What clinical implications?

Cited by 63 publications

References 36 publications

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Two systems for empathy in obsessive-compulsive disorder: mentalizing and experience sharing

Quality of life is social – Towards an improvement of social abilities in patients with epilepsy

Hemodynamic correlates of emotion regulation in frontal lobe epilepsy patients and healthy participants

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