title: Relationship of seizure variables to personality disorders in epilepsy.
abstract: Among epileptic patients, personality disorders may be associated with specific seizure manifestations. In an epilepsy clinic, we identified 42 idiopathic epilepsy patients diagnosed with various DSM-III-R personality disorders, including borderline, atypical or mixed, explosive, and dependent. When compared with 42 age- and sex-matched epileptic control subjects on six seizure variables, the personality disorder group had more patients with epileptic auras (P = 0.001), particularly "cephalic" auras, and fewer with secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that the experience of epileptic auras contributes to the development of personality disorders, especially when auras are not masked by secondarily generalized seizures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center, University of Minnesota 55101.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mendez
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Doss
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arguello
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004830:Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*