title: Trigger self-control and seizure arrest in the Andrews/Reiter behavioral approach to epilepsy: a retrospective analysis of seizure frequency.
abstract: The aim of this retrospective study is to describe changes of seizure frequency in epilepsy patients who participated in the Andrews/Reiter behavioral intervention for epilepsy. For this uncontrolled retrospective study, data were extracted from patients' medical journals. Intention-to-treat-analyses were restricted to patients with sufficient documentation supporting a diagnosis of probable or definite epilepsy. Main outcome variable was a comparison of mean seizure frequency at baseline and toward completion of the program. The seizure frequency of 30 (50%) patients showed a clinically meaningful improvement (>50% reduction of seizures) toward the end of the intervention. Twenty-two (37%) patients became seizure-free at the end of the intervention. In summary, a clinically meaningful reduction in reported seizure frequency was observed in epilepsy patients who received the Andrews/Reiter intervention for epilepsy. Prospective trials are needed to further investigate the program's efficacy and to study epileptic seizure triggers.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Private University Witten Herdecke, 58448 Witten, Germany. rosamichaelis@yahoo.de
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Michaelis
authors.forename: Warren
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schonfeld
authors.forename: Siegward-M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Elsas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012640:Seizures / Q000534:rehabilitation; D057566:Self Report; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult