Perceived stress, resilience, and stress coping in patients with drug resistant epilepsy and functional dissociative seizures.

Purpose: Depression and anxiety are psychiatric disorders related to chronic stress, commonly found in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and functional dissociative seizures (FDS). The present study compares the levels of perceived stress, resilience, and the styles of stress coping among patients with DRE (n=60), FDS (n=28), and controls (n=31).

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study.

Updated Review on the Diagnosis and Primary Management of Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizure Disorders.

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are paroxystic and episodic events associated with motor, sensory, mental or autonomic manifestations, which resemble epileptic seizures (ES), but are not caused by epileptogenic activity. PNES affect between 20% and 30% of patients attending at epilepsy centers and constitute a serious mental health problem. PNES are often underdiagnosed, undertreated and mistaken with epilepsy.

Differential Semiology Based on Video Electroencephalography Monitoring Between Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures and Temporal Lobe Epileptic Seizures.

Background: Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNESs) are disruptive changes in behavior without ictal correlate of epileptic activity and high prevalence of psychiatric morbidity. Differential diagnosis is difficult particularly with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), which is also associated with high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity. Although video electroencephalography is the gold standard for differential diagnosis, clinical semiology analysis may help the clinician in general medical practice.