Assessment of patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures
- Correspondence to: L H Goldstein Department of Psychology, PO77, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK; l.goldsteiniop.kcl.ac.uk
Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures pose a management problem
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 …
