Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T14:25:41.464Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychiatric Aspects of Epilepsy in Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

D. A. Pond
D. A. Pond*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This report of about 150 children is based on recent experience gained in the Maudsley Hospital Children's Department, in which epileptic children are investigated at special sessions. Most of the patients were examined in the usual way on their first visit to the Department. A full psychiatric history was taken from the mother or other relation. Intelligence tests, electroencephalogram (E.E.G.) and physical examinations were carried out. Later, as indicated, further special tests, such as air encephalograms, were done.

It is important to note the type of patients discussed in this report, in view of the notorious difficulty of obtaining reliable statistics in such a subject as epilepsy, whose manifestations are so varied that any one hospital or clinic cannot expect to see a truly unbiased sample. Children referred to the Maudsley Hospital nearly always show some behaviour disorder, but lack gross neurological signs and symptoms. Even in the case of epileptics a behaviour problem is frequently the presenting complaint, the actual seizures being a secondary problem. As the facilities for investigation are better than in many other clinics, cases are frequently referred from other hospitals for special investigation. This material, therefore, is undoubtedly heavily weighted by epileptics with behaviour problems. There are, on the one hand, disproportionately too few mentally normal children with epilepsy, and on the other, too few with epilepsy in association with grosser neurological disorders. No attempt is made, therefore, to give any statistics on the incidence of a particular symptom or sign within this group, as it is meaningless in relation to the whole body of epilepsy in children. The recent outstanding book by Bridge (1950) gives a very fair picture of epilepsy in childhood.

The aetiological factors may be divided into two groups: those within the social situation and those within the child.

Type
Part I.—Original Articles
Information
Journal of Mental Science , Volume 98 , Issue 412 , July 1952 , pp. 404 - 410
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1952 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amantea, G., quoted by Moruzzi, G., L'Epilepsie Expérimentale, 1950. Paris: Hermann et Cie.Google Scholar
Barker, W., and Barker, S., R.P.A.N.M.D., 1950 a, 29, 90.Google Scholar
Idem, Burgwin, S. and Simons, D. J., J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 19506, 112, 187.Google Scholar
Bender, L., in Modern Trends in Child Psychiatry, ed. by Lewis, X. D. C. and Pacella, B. L., 1945. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Bradley, C., Pediatrics, 1950, 5, 24.Google Scholar
Idem, J.A.M.A., 1951, 146, 436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridge, E. M., Epilepsy and Convulsive Disorders in Childhood, 1950. McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Fox, , Tylor, , Recent Progress in Psychiatry, ed. by Fleming, G. W. T. H., 1951.Google Scholar
Hill, D., and Pond, D. A., J. Ment. Sci., 1952, 98, 23.Google Scholar
Mittelman, B., in Epilepsy, ed. by Hoch, P. H. and Knight, R. P., 1948. London: Heineman.Google Scholar
Naville, F., and Brantmay, H., Schweiz. Arch. f. Neur. Psych., 1935, 35, 96.Google Scholar
Nekhorocheff, M. I., Revue Neurol., 1950, 83, 599.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.