title: [Sociocultural, clinical and psychological profile of the epileptic consulting in adult psychiatry, relative to 197 cases].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the Sfax area and the south of Tunisia, epileptics are not all followed by neurologist. Some are addressed to psychiatrist. This fact raises the question of the motivations of such an orientation. The objectives of our survey were to point out the socio-cultural, clinical and psycho(patho)logical profile of the epileptic consulting in adult psychiatry, in Sfax teaching hospital, and to confront it to literature data coming from the studies dealing with the epileptic treated in neurological wards.
  
  
  METHODS
  It was a retrospective survey assesing the epileptic whose first consultation occurred from the 1st January 1999 to 31st December 2003.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The studied sample included 197 cases. The sex-ratio (male/female) was 2.18. The rate of generalised seizures was 84.4%. The aetiology was known or presumed to be genetic in 48.2%. Sixty-nine per cent of the epileptics had mental disorders Our results and literature data showed that, compared with the epileptic treated in neurological wards, the consultants in psychiatry had epilepsy treated in a more classical way, more difficult to stabilise and frequently associated with mental disorders. By another way, we point out that in the area of our survey, although a department of neurology does exist, some epileptics without mental disorder are still addressed to psychiatrist, at least up to the period of the survey.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anyway, what seems to be more important is that the treatment should have realistic objectives. Psychotherapeutic support is fundamental to help epileptics to lead a decent life.
authors.affiliation: Unité des Consultations Externes de Psychiatrie EPS Hédi Chaker, Sfax.
authors.forename: Nasreddine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zouari
authors.forename: Mondher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben Amar
authors.forename: Lobna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zouari
authors.forename: Sameh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ben Mahmoud
authors.forename: Jihène Ben
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Thabet
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walha
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maâlej
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies