title: Melancholic major depression and epilepsy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Miguel Servet, Servicio de Psiquiatria, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: Iria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Silva
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Rodriguez
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Silva
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Perez-Echeverria
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Campayo-Martínez
mesh_terms: 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