I Alvarez-Silva | Search PubMed

PubMed2005

Panic and epilepsy.

Research is presented to support a hypothesis that panic attacks, when they have the same clinical signs as the epileptic consciousness, should be diagnosed as partial seizures with a psychic content. After setting out the four clinical signs defining it (suddenness, automatic nature, great intensity and strangeness), an extensive review of the literature is made in search of scientific information to support the hypothesis, which reveals a wealth of concurring scientific evidence, at both the clinical and preclinical levels, to support the hypothesis presented here. In conclusion, new research is proposed with a view to drawing up interviews and clinical scales in order to quantify the four clinical signs objectively.

Amygdala↗

PubMed2005

Epilepsy and psychiatry: automatic psychic paroxysms.

This study analyzes diverse psychic phenomena which, although always occurring with very characteristic clinical features, are sometimes diagnosed as epilepsy and sometimes as symptoms of different psychiatric disorders depending on the availability of an electroencephalogram. It is posited that these phenomena, whenever they are accompanied by the features characteristic of an epileptic consciousness (suddenness, automatic nature, great intensity and a strong sensation of strangeness) should be diagnosed as partial seizures with a psychic content, regardless of the availability of an EEG. The co-occurrence of these four clinical signs, which are relatively simple to objectivize, is a more reliable clinical criterion for diagnosis than a transcraneal electroencephalogram, which, as is known, is of little value in measuring the electrical activity of partial seizures. Moreover, an interpretation of this type makes it possible to reconcile scientific data from various neurosciences which thus far have seemed contradictory.

Anticonvulsants↗