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Post-Ictal Psychoses

A Clinical and Phenomenological Description

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

S. J. Logsdail  and
B. K. Toone
S. J. Logsdail*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The National Hospital for Nervous Diseases
B. K. Toone
Affiliation:
Kings College Hospital, London
*
∗Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG
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Abstract

Post-ictal psychoses have so far received little attention. The clinical details of 14 cases, diagnosed according to newly formulated criteria, were examined. Psychoses were usually precipitated by a run of seizures and occurred after a lucid interval. The seizures were partial complex with secondary generalisation in 11 cases. Catego analysis of the Present State Examination confirmed pleomorphic phenomenology. Follow-up details were available in all cases, for up to eight years. Psychoses tended to recur. Similarities with chronic epileptic psychosis are discussed, and a possible organic aetiology for post-ictal psychosis is proposed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 2 , February 1988 , pp. 246 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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