- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- 5.1 Mind–body dualism, psychiatry, and medicine
- 5.2 Somatoform disorders and other causes of medically unexplained symptoms
- 5.3 Medical and surgical conditions and treatments associated with psychiatric disorders
- 5.3.1 Adjustment to illness and handicap
- 5.3.2 Psychiatric aspects of neurological disease
- 5.3.3 Epilepsy
- 5.3.4 Medical conditions associated with psychiatric disorder
- 5.3.5 Psychiatric aspects of infections
- 5.3.6 Psychiatric aspects of surgery (including transplantation)
- 5.3.7 Psychiatric aspects of cancer
- 5.3.8 Psychiatric aspects of accidents, burns, and other physical trauma
- 5.4 Obstetric and gynaecological conditions associated with psychiatric disorder
- 5.5 Management of psychiatric disorders in medically ill patients, including emergencies
- 5.6 Health psychology
- 5.7 The organization of psychiatric services for general hospital departments
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Epilepsy
- Chapter:
- Epilepsy
- Author(s):
Brian Toone
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0139
An epileptic seizure has been defined as ‘a clinical manifestation presumed to result from an abnormal and excessive discharge of a set of neurones in the brain’. A diagnosis of epilepsy applies with the recurrence of two or more discrete and unprovoked seizures (febrile and neonatal seizures are excluded from this definition). Epilepsy is one of the more common neurological disorders. It carries with it a greater psychiatric morbidity than is to be found in other neurological disorders of comparable severity. Many of its manifestations resemble and may be confused with psychiatric phenomenology. It is often associated with learning difficulties; it may be a manifestation of acquired brain damage or disease; seizures may occur in the course of substance abuse or be caused by psychiatric treatment. For these and for many other reasons psychiatrists should be familiar with epilepsy, its manifold aetiologies, presentations, and treatment.
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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- 5.1 Mind–body dualism, psychiatry, and medicine
- 5.2 Somatoform disorders and other causes of medically unexplained symptoms
- 5.3 Medical and surgical conditions and treatments associated with psychiatric disorders
- 5.3.1 Adjustment to illness and handicap
- 5.3.2 Psychiatric aspects of neurological disease
- 5.3.3 Epilepsy
- 5.3.4 Medical conditions associated with psychiatric disorder
- 5.3.5 Psychiatric aspects of infections
- 5.3.6 Psychiatric aspects of surgery (including transplantation)
- 5.3.7 Psychiatric aspects of cancer
- 5.3.8 Psychiatric aspects of accidents, burns, and other physical trauma
- 5.4 Obstetric and gynaecological conditions associated with psychiatric disorder
- 5.5 Management of psychiatric disorders in medically ill patients, including emergencies
- 5.6 Health psychology
- 5.7 The organization of psychiatric services for general hospital departments
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry