Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Foreword
- Author affiliations
- Abbreviations
- 1 The paradoxical nature of nature
- 2 Paradoxical effects of sensory loss
- 3 Paradoxical functional facilitation and recovery in neurological and psychiatric conditions
- 4 Paradoxes in neurorehabilitation
- 5 The paradoxical self
- 6 Paradoxical psychological functioning in early child development
- 7 Cognitive ageing: a positive perspective
- 8 Paradoxes of learning and memory
- 9 The paradox of human expertise: why experts get it wrong
- 10 Paradoxes in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders
- 11 Paradoxical phenomena in epilepsy
- 12 Paradoxical creativity and adjustment in neurological conditions
- 13 Paradoxical functional facilitation with noninvasive brain stimulation
- 14 Unexpected benefits of allergies and cigarette smoking: two examples of paradox in neuroepidemiology
- 15 The paradox of autism: why does disability sometimes give rise to talent?
- 16 Paradoxes in creativity and psychiatric conditions
- 17 The paradox of psychosurgery to treat mental disorders
- 18 The paradox of electroconvulsive therapy
- 19 Paradoxes of comparative cognition
- 20 Paradoxical phenomena in brain plasticity
- 21 Immature neurons in the adult brain. Breaking all the rules
- 22 The paradoxical hippocampus: when forgetting helps learning
- 23 Paradoxical effects of drugs on cognitive function: the neuropsychopharmacology of the dopamine and other neurotransmitter systems
- 24 The paradoxical brain – so what?
- Index
- References
11 - Paradoxical phenomena in epilepsy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Preface
- Foreword
- Author affiliations
- Abbreviations
- 1 The paradoxical nature of nature
- 2 Paradoxical effects of sensory loss
- 3 Paradoxical functional facilitation and recovery in neurological and psychiatric conditions
- 4 Paradoxes in neurorehabilitation
- 5 The paradoxical self
- 6 Paradoxical psychological functioning in early child development
- 7 Cognitive ageing: a positive perspective
- 8 Paradoxes of learning and memory
- 9 The paradox of human expertise: why experts get it wrong
- 10 Paradoxes in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders
- 11 Paradoxical phenomena in epilepsy
- 12 Paradoxical creativity and adjustment in neurological conditions
- 13 Paradoxical functional facilitation with noninvasive brain stimulation
- 14 Unexpected benefits of allergies and cigarette smoking: two examples of paradox in neuroepidemiology
- 15 The paradox of autism: why does disability sometimes give rise to talent?
- 16 Paradoxes in creativity and psychiatric conditions
- 17 The paradox of psychosurgery to treat mental disorders
- 18 The paradox of electroconvulsive therapy
- 19 Paradoxes of comparative cognition
- 20 Paradoxical phenomena in brain plasticity
- 21 Immature neurons in the adult brain. Breaking all the rules
- 22 The paradoxical hippocampus: when forgetting helps learning
- 23 Paradoxical effects of drugs on cognitive function: the neuropsychopharmacology of the dopamine and other neurotransmitter systems
- 24 The paradoxical brain – so what?
- Index
- References
Summary
Summary
The impact of epilepsy on patients is determined by the frequency and severity of seizures, seizure-related symptoms, medication side-effects, the underlying cause and associated psychosocial issues. Paradoxical phenomena have been described in each of these domains, including unexpected worsening or improvement in seizure frequency, causes of epilepsy that can also precipitate a remission, extraordinary seizure-related experiences and psychiatric consequences. This chapter provides a brief overview of these and related topics. A fuller understanding of these paradoxical phenomena should yield unique insights into the development and pathophysiology of epilepsy, as well as illuminate the borderlands between mind and brain, and between neurology and psychiatry.
Introduction
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that affects persons of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. An estimated 2 to 4 million people in the United States have epilepsy (Hauser and Hesdorffer,1990), with approximately 200,000 newly diagnosed cases each year. Worldwide, approximately 50 million persons have epilepsy, the large majority of whom do not receive therapy, largely because of limited access to medical care and due to the costs of treatment.
The many causes of epilepsy include congenital brain malformations, metabolic diseases, brain trauma, brain tumours and abscesses, stroke, vascular malformations and cerebral degeneration. The most common causes vary as a function of age, degree of treatment resistance and whether the anatomic origin of seizure onset is focal, regional or diffuse. The most common pathology seen in the resected brain tissue of patients who undergo temporal lobectomies for focal-onset treatment-resistant epilepsy is hippocampal sclerosis.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Paradoxical Brain , pp. 204 - 220Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011