Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:10:27.502Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Temper Tantrums, Epilepsy and Episodic Dyscontrol

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Jon Leicester*
Affiliation:
The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney

Summary

Seventeen patients were seen by a neurologist for diagnosis of temper tantrums. The referring psychiatrist had thought that they might have been caused by organic disease, either epilepsy or the episodic dyscontrol syndrome. The final diagnosis in every case was temper tantrums due to psychological causes. The patients had a wide range of psychiatric disorders. Theories that might explain the tantrums are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

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.)

References

Ashford, J. W., Schulz, S. C. & Walsh, G. O. (1980) Violent automatism in a partial complex seizure. Archives of Neurology, 37, 120–2.Google Scholar
Bear, D. M. & Fedio, P. (1977) Quantitative analysis of interictal behavior in temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of Neurology, 34, 454–67.Google Scholar
Elliott, F. A. (1976) The neurology of explosive rage. Practitioner, 217, 5160.Google ScholarPubMed
Gloor, P. (1967) Brain mechanisms related to aggressive behavior. In Aggression and Defense—Brain Function, Volume 5, p 118. University of California Press: Berkely.Google Scholar
Hill, D. & Watterson, D. (1942) Electroencephalographic studies of psychopathic personalities. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 5, 4765.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malamud, N. (1967) Psychiatric disorder with intracranial tumours of limbic system. Archives of Neurology, 17, 113–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mark, V. H. & Ervin, F. R. (1970) Violence and the Brain. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Penfield, W. & Jasper, H. (1954) Epilepsy and the Functional Anatomy of the Human Brain. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Sayed, Z. A., Lewis, S. A. & Brittain, R. P. (1969) An electroencephalographic and psychiatric study of thirty-two insane murderers. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 1115–24.Google Scholar
Serafetinides, E. A. (1965) Aggressiveness in temporal lobe epileptics and its relation to cerebral dysfunction and environmental factors. Epilepsia, 6, 3342.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sweet, W. H., Ervin, F. & Mark, W. H. (1968) The relationship of violent behaviour to focal cerebral disease. In Aggressive Behavior, (eds. Garrattini, S. and Sigg, E. B.). New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Williams, D. (1956) The structure of emotions reflected in epileptic experiences. Brain, 79, 2967.Google Scholar
Williams, D. (1969) Neural factors related to habitual aggression. Brain, 92, 503–20.Google Scholar
Zeman, W. & King, F. A. (1958) Tumours of the septum pellucidum and adjacent structures with abnormal affective behavior. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 127, 490502.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.