HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldstein, L H Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Goldstein, L H

Assessment of patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
L H Goldstein
Department of Psychology, PO77, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK; l.goldstein{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk

Keywords: psychogenic non-epileptic seizures; epilepsy; personality disorder

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), while superficially resembling epileptic seizures, are not accompanied by the abnormal electrical discharges associated with epilepsy and cannot be explained by other medical conditions. Instead they are psychologically determined and, as patients with PNES may be misdiagnosed as having epilepsy, this disorder poses a considerable management problem. The development of a better understanding of the psychiatric characteristics of PNES patients and other risk factors associated with having PNES may not only assist, along with medical investigations, in the correct diagnosis of patients’ attacks, but may also inform effective treatment.

Though personality disorder has been diagnosed in very variable proportions of PNES patients, and research in this area is complicated by the use of different psychiatric classification systems and measures, the most common diagnoses associated with PNES have been borderline, histrionic, avoidant, and antisocial personality disorder.¹ Given that not all PNES patients satisfy formal . . . [Full text of this article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J D C Mellers The approach to patients with "non-epileptic seizures" Postgrad. Med. J., August 1, 2005; 81(958): 498 - 504. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]