Hopelessness in persons with epilepsy: Relationship with demographic, clinical, and social variables

Publication date: November 2019Source: Epilepsy & Behavior, Volume 100, Part AAuthor(s): Roberta Ciuffini, Paolo Stratta, Rodolfo Rossi, Enrico Perilli, Alfonso MarrelliAbstractPersons with epilepsy show a higher risk of suicidal ideation and behavior than the general population. Hopelessness, as a feature of demoralization, is considered an emerging risk factor for suicidal ideation. Psychopathological comorbidity, mainly depression, has to be taken into account to predict suicidal attempts but the relationship between suicidality and epilepsy has been also reported independently from depressive disorders. The aim of the study was to investigate hopelessness in a sample of persons suffering from epilepsy without comorbidity with psychiatric disorders and its association with demographic, social, and clinical variables, putatively predictive of suicidal behaviors.Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) has been used as measure of suicidal ideation in 72 consecutive outpatients afferent to a third level epilepsy center. Exclusion criterion was psychiatric comorbidity evaluated by clinical approach and quantified by Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Scale. Clinical (focus localization, age at onset, number of drugs), demographic, social variables, and intellectual level were considered.Age, age at onset, gender, intellectual level, socioeconomic status, duration of illness and therapy, number of drugs, seizure frequency, and localization of the epileptic focus and side involved were found...
Source: Epilepsy and Behavior - Category: Neurology Source Type: research