[The personality change in epilepsy patients].
Personality disorders in epilepsy patients are frequent, and cause behaviour that is quite often troublesome for social environment of patients. The peculiarity of the clinical picture and mechanism of disorder formation has caused great interest. The term 'characteropathy in epilepsia patient', with characteristic viscosity as its important basic symptom, was eliminated from present medical terminology. Current worldwide international disease classification systems (DSM-IV and ICD-10) do not distinguish the separate form of personality disorders related to epilepsy.


OBJECTIVE
of the work is to analyse personality change in epilepsy patients on the basis of information from the patients and their relatives by means of the Adjective Check List (ACL) by Gough and Heilbrun, with taking into consideration the incidence of depression and the phenomenon of 'out-of-body experience'.


METHODS
40 patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy with tonic - clonic seizures in age 19-55 years (mean 28 years) and 30 persons of age - matched control groups were examined. Each examined person and relative filled in ACL form two times in order to answer a question about the features of actual and premorbid patient's personality. The change of personality was evaluated according to ACL criteria and the psychoterapeutic criteria. In analysis were also taken into account the incidence of depression and the phenomenon of 'out-of-body experience'.


RESULTS
The personality change in epilepsy patients was more frequent than in the control group and more frequent concerned need scales of ACL (endurance, deference, self- and others understanding, and aggression scale). In the grave epilepsy group considerable behavioral and interpersonal relationships change (more subordination tendency), features of dementia, and often phenomenon 'out-of-body experience' were observed. The range of personality change in the mild epilepsy group, like in control group, included the adaptation of family functioning principles to the patients' needs, the change of patients' emotional reaction and the meaning of life. In this group depression was often, but the phenomenon 'out-of-body experience' hardly ever appeared.


CONCLUSIONS
The personality change in epilepsy patients was found in more than 80% of patients and concerned need scales of ACL (endurance, deference, self- and others understanding and aggression scale), and thematic scales (self ideal, self-control, and self-confidence scale). In the grave epilepsy group considerable behavioral changes, features of dementia, and often the phenomenon 'out-of-body experience' were observed. In the mild epilepsy group the changes were limited to alter of conviction and emotional response, often depression appeared, but hardly ever the phenomenon 'out-of-body experience' was observed.
Jarzebska
Ewa
E
Akademia Medyczna we Wrocławiu, Katedra i Klinika Neurologii. ewajarz@wp.pl
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology*; D010556:Personality Tests; D012649:Self Concept; D012931:Social Environment