Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-nt87m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-11T17:33:55.793Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interictal Psychopathology in Epilepsy Prevalence and Pattern in a Nigerian Clinic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Oye Gureje
Oye Gureje*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, and University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An unselected sample of 204 epileptic patients attending a neurological out-patient clinic in Abeokuta, Nigeria, was evaluated for psychiatric morbidity using the CIS. Thirty-seven per cent emerged as psychiatric cases, almost a third of these being cases of psychosis. Patients with partial seizure of temporal lobe origin were the most psychiatrically impaired, while those with partial seizure of non-temporal lobe origin the least. These findings are broadly similar to those reported for epileptic populations in other studies. However, in spite of the relatively high prevalence of major psychiatric disorders among these patients, their impairments were more likely to remain ‘hidden’ and untreated than those in similar patients in developed countries.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 158 , Issue 5 , May 1991 , pp. 700 - 705
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Asuni, T. A. & Pillutla, V. S. (1967) Schizophrenic–like psychosis in Nigerian epileptics. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 1375–1379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bear, D. M. & Fedio, P. (1977) Quantitative analysis of interictal behaviour in temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of Neurology, 34, 454–467.Google Scholar
Benjamin, S. & Decalmer, P. (1982) Community screening for mental illness: a validity study of the General Health Questionnaire. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 174–180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Currie, S., Heathfield, K. W. G., Hensen, R. A., et al (1971) Clinical course and prognosis of temporal lobe epilepsy: a survey of 666 patients. Brain, 94, 173–190.Google Scholar
Dhadphale, R., Ellison, R. H. & Griffin, L. (1983) The frequency of psychiatric disorders among patients attending semi–urban and rural general out-patient clinic in Kenya. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 379–383.Google Scholar
Dongier, S. (1960) Statistical study of clinical and electroencephalographic manifestations of 536 psychotic episodes occurring in 516 epileptics between clinical seizures. Epilepsia, 1, 117–142.Google Scholar
Driver, M. V. (1970) Electroencephalogram and the diagnosis of temporal lobe disease. In Modern Trends in Psychological Medicine, vol. 2 (ed. J. H. Price). London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Edeh, J. & Toone, B. (1987) Relationship between interictal psychopathology and the type of epilepsy – results of a survey in general practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 95–101.Google Scholar
Ervin, F. R. (1967) Brain disorder associated with convulsives. In Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (eds A. M. Freedman & H. I. Kaplan). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Flor–Henry, P. (1969) Psychosis and temporal lobe epilepsy: a controlled investigation. Epilepsy, 10, 363–395.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flor–Henry, P. (1972) Ictal and inter–ictal psychiatric manifestation in epilepsy: specific or non-specific. Epilepsia, 13, 773–783.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerritis, C. (1983) A West–African epilepsy focus. Lancet, i, 358.Google Scholar
Gibbs, F. A. (1951) Ictal and non–ictal psychiatric disorders in temporal lobe epilepsy. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 11, 522–528.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. & Blackwell, B. (1970) Psychiatric illness in general practice a detailed study using new methods of identification. British Medical Journal, ii, 439–443.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., et al (1970) A standardised psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 24, 18–23.Google Scholar
Gousmit, J. & Van der Waals, F. W. (1983) Endemic epilepsy in an isolated region of Liberia. Lancet, i, 528.Google Scholar
Gureje, O. (1986) Social factors and depression in Nigerian women. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 74, 392–395.Google Scholar
Gureje, O. & Adewunmi, A. (1988) Life events and schizophrenia in Nigerians: a controlled investigation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 367–375.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
International League Against Epilepsy (1981) Proposal for revised clinical and electroencephalic classification of epileptic seizures. Epilepsia, 22, 489–501.Google Scholar
Juul–Jensen, P. (1964) Epilepsy: a clinical and social analysis of 1020 adult patients with epileptic seizures. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 40 (suppl. 51).Google Scholar
Kogeorgos, J., Fonagy, P. & Scott, D. F. (1982) Psychiatric symptoms patterns of chronic epileptics attending a neurological clinic: a controlled investigation. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 236–243.Google Scholar
Kristensen, O. & Sindrup, E. H. (1978a) Psychomotor epilepsy and psychosis I: Physical aspects. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 57, 361–369.Google Scholar
Kristensen, O. & Sindrup, E. H. (1978b). Psychomotor epilepsy and psychosis II: Electroencephalographic findings. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 57, 370–379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kurtzke, J. F. & Kurland, L. T. (1973) The epidemiology of neurologic disease. In Clinical Neurology, vol. 3 (ed. A. B. Baker). Hagerstown: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Mari, J. J. & William, P. (1984) Minor psychiatric disorder in primary care in Brazil: a pilot study. Psychological Medicine, 14, 223–227.Google Scholar
Odejide, A. O. & Bademosi, O. (1976) Some psychiatric aspects of epilepsy. African Journal of Psychiatry, 3, 365–371.Google Scholar
Osuntokun, B. O. (1979) Treatment of epilepsy: with special reference to developing countries. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology, 3, 81–94.Google Scholar
Osuntokun, B. O., Schoenberg, B. S., Nottidge, V. A., et al (1982) Research protocol for measuring the prevalence of neurologic disorders in developing countries: results of a pilot study in Nigeria. Neuroepidemiology, 1, 143–153.Google Scholar
Ounsted, C. & Linsay, J. (1981) The long term outcome of temporal lobe epilepsy in childhood. In Epilepsy and Psychiatry (eds E. H. Reynolds & M. R. Trimble). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Pond, D. & Bidwell, B. H. (1959) A survey of epilepsy in fourteen general practices. II. Social and psychological aspects. Epilepsia, 1, 285–299.Google Scholar
Reynolds, E. H. & Travers, R. D. (1974) Serum anticonvulsant concentrations in epileptic patients with mental symptoms. British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 440–445.Google Scholar
Scott, D. F. (1977) Psychiatric aspects of epilepsy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 417–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherwin, I. (1981) Psychosis associated with epilepsy: significance of the laterality of the epileptogenic lesion. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 44, 83–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shukla, G. D., Srivastava, O. N., Katiyar, B. C., et al (1979) Psychiatric manifestations in temporal lobe epilepsy: a controlled study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 411–417.Google Scholar
Slater, E., Beard, A. W. & Glithero, E. (1963) The schizophrenialike psychosis of epilepsy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 109, 95–150.Google Scholar
Small, J. C., Milsterin, V. & Stevens, J. R. (1962) Are psychomotor epileptics different? A controlled study. Archives of Neurology, 7, 187–194.Google Scholar
Solomon, S. (1967) The neurological evaluation. In Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (eds A. M. Freedman & H. I. Kaplan). Baltimore: William & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Stevens, J. R. (1966) Psychiatric implications of psychomotor epilepsy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 14, 461–471.Google Scholar
Taylor, D. C. & Falconer, M. A. (1968) Clinical, socioeconomic and psychological changes after temporal lobectomy for epilepsy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 1247–1261.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.