Genesis of Psychopathogy in epileptics

Abstract

Children suffering from epilepsy have been found to be strikingly susceptible to psychiatric disorders and almost all forms of such abnormalities have been reported in them. Except for a few,
most studies on epilepsy concern adults. Nearly half of the children from the subject group had at least some psychiatric disturbance. In
comparison only one fourth of the children from the control group displayed any psychiatric disturbance. The most common psychiatric problem in the epileptic child was conduct disorder followed by a lowered intelligence, whereas in the non epileptic child anxiety and conduct disorder was common. Various factors were found to be significantly associated with psychopathology, these were either contributory to the epilepsy or were consequent to the epileptic state along with its biological, psychological and social ramifications. Thus, psycho-pathology  reflected a complex interaction of seizures, socio-demographic factors and treatment related variables, in accord with studies. Clinicians should be sensitive in identifying psychopathology since this may lead to effective interventions for this group of children.