Psychogenic Seizures

Seizures with no known neurological cause are known as psychogenic seizures. Symptoms occur as a result of mental or emotional distress. While psychogenic seizures can occur in both men and women, American Family Physician reports that as much as 85 percent of people with the condition are female.

Dr. David Miller, who edits the Harvard Mental Health Letter, explains that people with seizure disorders or epilepsy frequently have psychological disorders as well and up to 10 percent of people hospitalized for mental illnesses also have seizure disorders. However, these people do not all have psychogenic seizures; many have seizures caused by diagnosed neurological disorders. The same brain disorders that cause some mental illnesses also cause seizures in some people.

Symptoms

Psychogenic seizures resemble any other kind of seizure. Symptoms include blank stares, unresponsiveness, involuntary movements or convulsions and involuntary vocalizations. In addition, people that suffer from psychogenic seizures often suffer from a variety of psychological problems like anxiety and depression. They may also experience visual or auditory hallucinations.

Evaluation

When people have seizures caused by neurological disorders, neurological changes can be seen by electroencephalogy (EEG). However, psychogenic seizures are not accompanied by neurological changes that can be visualized by EEG. To determine if seizures are psychogenic in nature, doctors use video-electroencephalogy (vEEG) to monitor both obvious symptoms and neurological changes in people when they have seizures. Doctors may order other tests as well such as blood tests and computed axial tomography (CT scan) to look for other causes of seizures, as well as taking a thorough history and conducting a thorough psychological examination. Physicians should not assume seizures not accompanied by the typical changes on an EEG are psychogenic, though they should consider that possibility. They should investigate other causes as well, though.

Treatment

Doctors treat psychogenic seizures with psychotropic drugs such as antidepressants or mood stabilizers, psychotherapy or a combination of both. Anticonvulsive medications may not help since psychogenic seizures do not have neurological causes but some anticonvulsive drugs such as Lamictal and Depakote are also sometimes used as mood stabilizers, so those may be effective. Any concurrent psychological disorder such as depression or bipolar disorder should also be addressed in treatment.

Psychotherapists should assist people with psychogenic seizures in identifying things that may trigger seizures, such as stressful situations, and help them find ways to deal with those situations appropriately. People that suffer from psychogenic seizures may also need to try to find ways to avoid those situations altogether as much as possible, but of course it's not possible to avoid all sources of stress in life.

People with psychogenic seizures should seek treatment from health care professionals that have experience treating the condition. Health care professionals need to understand that people are not "faking;" it's simply that their symptoms have psychological causes rather than neurological causes.

Sources:

American Famil y Physician. http://www.a afp.org/afp/2005/0901/p849.html . Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures .

Harvard Health Publications. http://www.health.harvard.edu/p ress_releases/epilepsy-symptoms . Epilepsy Information .