Postepileptic seizure PTSD: A very rare psychiatric condition in patients with epilepsy.

PURPOSE: It has been shown that relatives of patients with epilepsy could experience a seizure as a traumatic event followed by a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In one questionnaire study, 51% of the patients with epilepsy were reported to have a PTSD caused by a traumatic seizure, termed postepileptic seizure PTSD by the authors. However, it remained unclear whether these patients had further psychiatric comorbidities and if certain seizure features may foster the development of the proposed epilepsy-specific PTSD. METHODS: We conducted a structured clinical interview assessing psychiatric disorders in 120 patients with difficult-to-treat epilepsies. We also used a modified version of the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale conducted as an interview to assess the number of patients who fulfilled the criteria for a PTSD caused by an epileptic seizure. We additionally compared certain features of traumatic versus nontraumatic seizures. RESULTS: Fifty of the 120 patients identified a seizure that fulfilled the criteria for a traumatic event, whereas 28 patients identified a worst seizure not meeting the trauma definition. Six patients fulfilled all PTSD criteria caused by a traumatic seizure. However, three of these patients also had a regular PTSD, and in two further patients, the results of the clinical interview suggested that the PTSD-like symptoms could be better explained by an adjustment disorder. We could not identify seizure characteristics differentiating traumatic from nontraumatic seizures. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that it is recommendable to conceptualize an epileptic seizure as being potentially traumatic in nature when assessing PTSD in patients with epilepsy, although we could not identify specific characteristics that could differentiate between traumatic and nontraumatic seizures. However, while using interview-based psychiatric assessment, we found a very low rate of a postepileptic seizure PTSD. It is worth conducting a comprehensive psychiatric diagnostic interview to differentiate PTSD-like symptoms from other comorbidities, such as epilepsy-related adjustment disorder.

Psychiatric disorders and trauma history in patients with pure PNES and patients with PNES and coexisting epilepsy.

Several studies found high prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders in patients with pure psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). Traumatic experiences were also reported to be elevated in patients with PNES and were discussed as a crucial risk factor for the development of PNES. Much less is known about psychiatric comorbidities and specifically, about trauma history in patients with PNES and coexisting epilepsy. Here, we aimed at directly comparing psychiatric disorders and traumatic life experiences in patients with pure PNES and in patients with PNES and coexisting epilepsy. We assessed the presence of current axes I and II disorders in 109 patients with either pure PNES (n = 67) or with PNES + epilepsy (n = 42) by using structured clinical interviews. We also compared the trauma histories by using the posttraumatic diagnostic scale (PDS) as an interview and the extent of physical, sexual, and emotional childhood maltreatment measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Patients of both groups had very high rates of psychiatric disorders: 79.1% of the patients with pure PNES and 76.2% of the patients with PNES + epilepsy had at least one psychiatric disorder. The frequencies of psychiatric disorders did not differ between groups. However, there was a trend towards higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients with PNES (32.9%) compared with patients with PNES + epilepsy (16.7%). In both groups, the proportion of patients who recalled traumatic events in the PDS was high (72.6% in the patients with pure PNES, 64.3% in the patients with PNES + epilepsy) and did not differ significantly between groups. The age at first traumatization, the types of trauma events experienced, the number of patients with single traumatization, and those with repeated traumatic experiences also did not differ between groups. We found high frequencies of childhood maltreatment in both groups. Our findings show that patients with PNES and patients with PNES and coexisting epilepsy could neither be differentiated by the amount of psychiatric additional disorders nor by the nature and extent of trauma and maltreatment experiences. Our results suggest that patients with PNES + epilepsy rather resemble patients with pure PNES than patients with epilepsy in respect to psychopathological characteristics and adverse life experiences. Trauma and maltreatment history are therefore assumed to be predisposing factors to PNES in both patients with pure PNES and patients with PNES and coexisting epilepsy.

Interictal dysphoric disorder: Further doubts about its epilepsy-specificity and its independency from common psychiatric disorders.

PURPOSE: The interictal dysphoric disorder (IDD) is a proposed epilepsy-specific psychiatric condition characterized by a conglomerate of symptoms such as depression, irritability, euphoria, and anxiety. However, there are doubts about IDD as an independent entity and about its presumed epilepsy-specific nature. METHODS: Here, we investigated the association between psychiatric disorders and IDD in 120 patients with epilepsy, also analyzing potential associations between IDD symptoms and epilepsy-related variables. To test the epilepsy-specificity of IDD, we also studied IDD rates in 28 patients with pure psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. For the assessment of psychopathology, we used a structured clinical interview to determine the presence and nature of Axis I disorders and clinical questionnaires to assess psychopathological symptoms (anxiety, depression and severity of global distress). In accordance with most previous studies, we used the Interictal Dysphoric Disorder Inventory to assess IDD symptoms. RESULTS: In our epilepsy group, we observed an IDD in 33% (42 of 120) of the patients. We diagnosed IDD in 39% (11 of 28) of the patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures without epilepsy. The majority of the patients with epilepsy with IDD have or had a psychiatric disorder (33 with a current, 6 with a past Axis I diagnosis). Patients with epilepsy with IDD had higher scores on all psychopathology questionnaires compared to the epilepsy patients without IDD. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that IDD is not epilepsy-specific in nature, but occurs with the same frequency and the same pattern of symptoms in a purely psychiatric sample. We found a large overlap of IDD and common psychiatric comorbidities, mainly depression and anxiety disorders. This result calls the presumed nosological independency of IDD into question.

Current psychiatric disorders in patients with epilepsy are predicted by maltreatment experiences during childhood.

PURPOSE: Childhood maltreatment has been shown to be a risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders. Although the prevalence of psychiatric disorders is high in epilepsy patients, it is unknown if childhood maltreatment experiences are elevated compared to the normal population and if early maltreatment is a risk factor for current psychiatric comorbidities in epilepsy patients. This is the main purpose of this study. METHODS: Structured interviews were used to assess current Axis I diagnoses in 120 epilepsy patients from a tertiary Epilepsy Center (34 TLE patients, 86 non-TLE patients). Childhood maltreatment in the family and peer victimization were assessed with validated questionnaires. Patients' maltreatment scores were compared with those of a representative matched control group. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the potential impact of childhood maltreatment on current psychiatric comorbidity in epilepsy patients. RESULTS: Compared to a matched control group, epilepsy patients had higher emotional and sexual maltreatment scores. Patients with a current psychiatric diagnosis reported more family and peer maltreatment than patients without a psychiatric disorder. Family maltreatment scores predicted the likelihood of a current psychiatric disorder. TLE patients did not differ from non-TLE patients according to maltreatment experiences and rates of current psychiatric disorders. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that in epilepsy patients emotional and sexual childhood maltreatment is experienced more often than in the normal population and that early maltreatment is a general risk factor for psychiatric comorbidities in this group.