title: [Social resources for a patient with epilepsy].
abstract: Epilepsy is a common episodic neurological disorder and is often accompanied by mental, psychiatric, and physical disorders; therefore, a comprehensive treatment, including seizure control, is needed to treat it. Epilepsy patients need frequent seizure preventive treatment, which is likely to induce medication dependence. This paper presents a report on the social resources involved in epilepsy treatment. "Services and Support for Persons with Disabilities Acts" is applicable to epilepsy patients and provides public compensation for psychiatric outpatient treatment, enabling disabled persons to apply for disability pension to support their living and medical expenditures. The Mental Health Welfare Notebook is issued to provide welfare services for the disabled, and it plays an important role in promoting employment of disabled persons. The welfare services for the disabled are diverse, ranging from home-based services to services aiding the disabled to step out of their homes, go to day care centers, or pay for house rent. The details of the welfare services for the disabled are available on the homepage of the website for the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The roles of physicians involve maximizing social resources in coordination with psychiatric social workers, aiming for normalization of disabled persons so that they are able to live comfortably in the community.
authors.affiliation: Nishi-Niigata Chuo National Hospital, Department of Clinical Research.
authors.forename: Mutsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sasagawa
mesh_terms: D004827:Epilepsy / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D010415:Pensions; D012946:Social Welfare