Suicidal Ideation and Traumatic Exposure Should Not Be Neglected in Epileptic Patients: A Multidimensional Comparison of the Psychiatric Profile of Patients Suffering From Epilepsy and Patients Suffering From Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures

Conclusion: It is the severity of PTSD symptoms in PNES patients that differentiates them from ES patients, although exposure to traumatic events is also frequent in ES patients. We demonstrated that suicidal ideation and suicide risk are equally high in the ES and PNES groups. Therefore, both groups require extreme vigilance in terms of suicidal risk.IntroductionA variety of interactions between epilepsy and psychiatric disorders have been described. One major interaction concerns the occurrence of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs). As many as 30% of the cases in epilepsy centers for drug-resistant epilepsy appear to be due to PNES (1).PNESs are defined as paroxysmal, transient clinical episodes that can include motor, sensory, vegetative, psychological, and cognitive signs that resemble those seen in epileptic seizures (ESs). PNESs, or “conversion disorder with attacks or seizures,” are classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) as somatic symptom disorders and related disorders (2), a category based on the presence of positive symptoms and not simply the exclusion of an “organic” diagnosis. Video electroencephalography (vEEG) allows the clinical and electrical differences between PNES and ES to be documented; with the history of patients and witnesses of the clinical events, it offers a diagnostic “gold standard” with high levels of certainty and excellent interrater reliabi...
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research