Posted by SLS on May 1, 2000, at 9:55:49
In reply to Social Phobia-Epilepsy Connection? (some rambling), posted by S.D. Guy on May 1, 2000, at 4:44:43
> There seems to be nothing written about a biological connection between epilepsy and social phobia.
> Have you heard of anything like this?
There seems to be a connection between temporal lobe epilepsy and psychiatric disturbances, particularly depression and anxiety. The left temporal lobe is thought to be most often responsible for these. Psychiatric disturbances often result from injury or lesions (tumors) to the left temporal lobe as well. Disturbances attributed to temporal lobe epilepsy/injury include:- depression
- anxiety disorders
- panic attacks
- agoraphobia
- decreased socialization
- derealizationThere is often great difficulty in differentiating between various anxiety disorders and the anxiety syndromes associated with temporal lobe epilepsy. There need not be any convulsions. Paroxysmal anxiety and panic attacks occur as episodes representing an ictal event. Chronic states of depression or anxiety occur interictally.
Do you experience brief intense episodes or are your anxiety/phobic states more chronic?
Anyway, you can start digging around for more information by using "temporal lobe" as a search keyword. Please post if you find anything interesting, especially if it is consistent with your suspicions.
Thanks.
* From your citation:"The patients with epilepsy showed significantly higher scores on the basic coping styles MBHI Inhibition style and MBHI Sensitivity style, and lower scores on the MBHI Sociability and the MBHI Confidence"
Q: What does a higher score versus a lower score indicate?
I included some abstracts below. One of them also addresses complex partial epilepsy.
- Scott
-----------------------------------------------------: J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1996 Dec;61(6):601-5 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Interictal mood and personality disorders in temporal lobe epilepsy and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.Perini GI, Tosin C, Carraro C, Bernasconi G, Canevini MP, Canger R, Pellegrini A, Testa G
Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Sciences, University of Padova, Italy.
BACKGROUND: Mood disorders have been described as the commonest psychiatric disorders in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Secondary depression in temporal lobe epilepsy could be interpreted either as an adjustment reaction to a chronic disease or as a limbic dysfunction. To clarify this issue, a controlled study of psychiatric disorders was conducted in different forms of epileptic and non-epileptic chronic conditions. METHODS: Twenty outpatients with temporal lobe epilepsy, 18 outpatients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy--a primary generalised seizure disorder--20 matched type I diabetic patients, and 20 matched normal controls were assessed by a structured interview (SADS) and by self rating scales (Beck depression inventory (BDI) and the state and trait anxiety scales STAIX1 and STAIX2). RESULTS: Sixteen (80%) patients with temporal lobe epilepsy fulfilled the criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis at the SADS interview with a significantly higher frequency than patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (22%) and diabetic patients (10%) (P < 0.0001). The most frequent disorder in temporal lobe epilepsy was a mood disorder: 11 (55%) patients with temporal lobe epilepsy had depression compared with three patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and two diabetic patients (P < 0.001). Eight patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with an affective disorder also had a comorbid personality or anxiety disorder. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy scored significantly higher on BDI, STAIX1, and STAIX2 than the three control groups (P < 0.001, P < 0.01, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy have a higher incidence of affective and personality disorders, often in comorbidity, than patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and diabetic patients suggesting that these psychiatric disorders are not an adjustment reaction to a chronic disease but rather reflect a limbic dysfunction.
PMID: 8971108, UI: 97126184
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Psychosensorial and related phenomena in panic disorder and in temporal lobe epilepsy.Toni C, Cassano GB, Perugi G, Murri L, Mancino M, Petracca A, Akiskal H, Roth SM
Institute of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Italy.
Since Cullen coined the term "neurosis" in the 18th century, medical investigators have searched the neural substrates of conditions we now classify as anxiety disorders. Harper and Roth in 1962 hypothesized that the temporal lobes might represent one such substrate for phobic-anxious patients with depersonalization-derealization (DD); the association between the presumed temporal lobe feature and phobic anxiety was so compelling that Roth (in 1959) described the condition as "phobic-anxiety-depersonalization" syndrome. Introduced into our current nosology as panic disorder-agoraphobia (PDA), this seemingly neuropsychiatric condition is nonetheless distinct from complex partial epilepsy (CPE), from which it is conventionally differentiated through clinical and anamnestic evaluation. Yet increasingly there are clinical-and laboratory-hints of certain overlap between manifestations of the two disorders, hitherto based largely on evaluation of psychosensorial phenomena in PDA or affective phenomena in CPE. We located only one systematic study that monitored 24-hour electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities in PDA. Finally, recent epidemiologic data suggest a significantly greater than chance association between PDA and a history of seizures. To further explore these intriguing links, the present study directly compared a group of 91 PDA outpatients with a group of 41 CPE outpatients with respect to DD and other psychosensorial symptoms. The broad similarities discovered between psychosensorial and related phenomena provide further support for the hypothesis that there may be a common neurophysiological substrate linking CPE phenomena with PDA.
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: Seizure 1999 Apr;8(2):116-9 Related Articles, Books
Emotional status after right vs. left temporal lobectomy.Burton LA, Labar D
Fordham University Psychology Department, Cornell University Medical College, Cornell, USA.
Nineteen temporal lobectomy patients with epilepsy were evaluated (11 right and 8 left) with a brief questionnaire that addressed: (1) General Happiness; (2) Depression; (3) Anxiety; (4) Impulse Control; and (5) Socialization. The patients with left temporal lobectomy reported increases in depression and decreases in socialization compared with the right temporal lobectomy patients after surgery. Furthermore although the right temporal lobectomy patients reported increases in general happiness, no changes in general happiness were reported by the left temporal lobectomy patients. The present study supported the idea that an increased negative affect is associated with left rather than right temporal lobectomy. This is consistent with a model of negative emotional valence when the right hemisphere dominates awareness. Copyright 1999 British Epilepsy Association.
poster:SLS
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