TRAUMATIC STRESS, ANXIETY AND EPILEPSY

• Authors: Bob P. , Kukleta M. , Jagla F.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Recent findings indicate that the high arousal and/or anxiety during the traumatic events attract attention in an extreme degree and this shift of attention may produce the dissociative states. The important findings in the study of traumatic stress represent data that indicate common neurophysiological mechanisms of traumatic stress, anxiety and epileptogenesis. These findings imply that complex functions of cognitive-emotional integration are closely linked to the defective inhibitory functions and often lead to the temporo-limbic epileptiform abnormalities which may emerge as the symptoms of ictal temporal lobe epilepsy such as the somatic, sensory, behavioral and memory symptoms also in the nonepileptic conditions (the so-called complex partial seizure-like symptoms). In this study we have performed preliminary clinical examination in the epileptic patients with the aim to assess whether the so-called the complex partial seizure-like symptoms, are significantly related to dissociation, traumatic symptoms, anxiety and depression. The resuls indicate the significant differences of the psychodiagnostic measures between the epileptic patients and healthy control group. A very significant degree of psychopathology has been found in the patients included in the subgroup of the patients with a high level of the complex partial seizure-like symptoms. The data support the hypothesis that the symptoms of temporal lobe epilepsy in the epileptic patients display a relationship to the traumatic stress related symptoms and anxiety. This suggests a bidirectional relationship between traumatic stress-related hyperexcitability and increased stress susceptibility associated with the epileptiform abnormalities.

Keywords

EN

ANXIETY; DISSOCIATION; EPILEPSY; NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS; STRESS; TRAUMATIC MEMORY

Discipline

• PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Studia Psychologica
• Year: 2007
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 127-133
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Bob P.

author

Kukleta M.

author

Jagla F.

• P. Bob, Centrum pro neuropsychiatricky vyskum a Katedra psychiatrie 1. Lekarske fakulty Karlovy univerzity, Ke Karlovu 11, 128 00 Praha 2, Czech Republic

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

07SKAAAA02635406