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Psychological characteristics of patients with newly developed psychogenic seizures

¹ Department of General Practice, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
² Department of Neurology, Maastricht University Hospital, Maastricht, the Netherlands
³ Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Medical Technology Assessment, Maastricht University Hospital, Maastricht, the Netherlands
⁴ Department of Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
T van Merode
Maastricht University, Department of General Practice/Women and Health, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands; Tiny.vanMerode{at}hag.unimaas.nl

ABSTRACT
Objectives: To assess psychopathological symptoms and history of childhood trauma in patients with newly developed psychogenic seizures.

Methods: Using validated scales, 178 patients from the general population diagnosed with newly developed seizures were assessed, at a point in time when the nature of their seizures was yet unknown to either doctors or patients. After standardised neurological examination, 138 patients were diagnosed with non-psychogenic seizures (NPS), while 40 patients were found to have psychogenic seizures (PS). To evaluate possible differences between the genders and the diagnostic groups, univariate analyses of variance were done.

Results: PS patients reported significantly more comorbid psychopathological complaints, dissociative experiences, anxiety, and self-reported childhood trauma than NPS patients. In addition, PS patients had lower quality of life ratings than NPS patients. These effects were not modulated by gender.

Conclusions: The results of the present study indicate that patients with newly developed PS constitute a group with complex psychopathological features that warrant early detection and treatment.

Abbreviations: CTQ, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; DES, Dissociative Experience Scale; NPS, Non-psychogenic seizures; PS, psychogenic seizures; QOLIE, Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory; SAMT, Semantic Autobiographical Memory Test; SAS, Self-rating Anxiety Scale; SCL, Symptom Check List; STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; UCL, Utrecht Coping List

Keywords: pseudoseizures; psychological characteristics; incident cases

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