Psychiatric disease in patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures referred from an epilepsy unit in a general hospital

Abstract

Introduction. We evaluate psychiatric disease associated with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) and study the role played by previous traumatic experiences, dissociative episodes and personality disorders.

Method. After diagnosing PNES in our epilepsy unit, we obtained a sample of 46 patients and carried out a structured psychiatric interview (SCID) following DSM-III-R criteria. We looked for previous dissociative episodes and prepared a questionnaire for traumatic experiences and basic clinical data.

Results. The most frequent psychiatric disorders were depression, anxiety and somatoform disorders. Personality disorders were found in 16 patients (34.78%), dissociative episodes in 17 (36.95%), and previous traumatic experiences in 14 (30.43 %). No statistically significant differences were found in regards to PNES, with respect to presence or absence of previous traumatic experiences, dissociative episodes, and personality disorders.

Conclusions. As in previous studies, our research project confirms the co-existence of PNES with other mental disorders, and although we do find a higher frequency of seizures, the role played by traumatic experiences and dissociative disorders in CNEP remains unclear.