Melancholic major depression and epilepsy.
An analysis is carried out of a set of psychic phenomena appearing always in the same way: an experience suddenly invades the consciousness, unfolding automatically and with great intensity. This psychic automatism, of which the patient is a passive observer, is accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of strangeness. Our hypothesis is that these phenomena are the expression of partial seizures with a psychic content, and the name Paroxysmal Psychic Automatisms is proposed for all of them. A comparative study is then made of the phenomenology of partial seizures with a psychic content, on the one hand, and of that of melancholic major depression, on the other. It reveals a wealth of clinical information indicating an overlap between the two conditions. Finally, a set of well-established scientific data is analysed concerning epilepsy and depression, especially epidemiological and psychopharmacological information, which takes on a new meaning in the light of the hypothesis developed in this paper.
Alvarez-Silva
Iria
I
Hospital Miguel Servet, Servicio de Psiquiatria, Zaragoza, Spain.
Alvarez-Rodriguez
Javier
J
Alvarez-Silva
Sergio
S
Perez-Echeverria
M J
MJ
Campayo-Martínez
Antonio
A
D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015995:Prevalence