Clinical correlates of schizotypy in patients with epilepsy.

Clinical correlates of schizotypy were evaluated in 89 adult consecutive outpatients with epilepsy, using the Beck Depression Inventory, the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Age at onset of the epilepsy significantly correlated with the constricted affect subscale of the SPQ, while a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy correlated with the total SPQ score, the cognitive-perceptual factor of the SPQ, and the suspiciousness subscale of the SPQ. Schizotypal symptoms correlated with early onset of the seizures and a diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy, further confirming an association between psychoses and epilepsy.

Clinical correlates of pathological gambling symptoms in patients with epilepsy.

Pathological gambling symptoms (PGS), that is, the subjective urge to gamble and the actual gambling behaviors, are currently acknowledged as relatively common symptoms among Western countries, with an estimated point prevalence of 0.6-1.1% in the general population.

Clinical and psychopathological definition of the interictal dysphoric disorder of epilepsy.

Purpose: Different authors suggested the occurrence of a pleomorphic affective syndrome in patients with epilepsy named interictal dysphoric disorder (IDD). We sought to investigate whether IDD occurs only in patients with epilepsy and to validate IDD features against DSM-IV criteria.

Methods: Consecutive patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy (E) or migraine (M) have been assessed using the BDI, MDQ, and the Interictal Dysphoric Disorder Inventory (IDDI), a questionnaire specifically created to evaluate IDD symptoms.