title: Dissociative experiences in epilepsy--a neuropathological and sociodemographic study in a Chinese population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is well known that dissociative experiences coexist with various epilepsy syndromes. However, the prevalence of dissociative experiences in different subtypes of epilepsy remains unknown. This is especially important because of the current prevalent view that the etiology of dissociation in seizures is neurobiological rather than psychosocial. The amygdala especially has been implicated in such dissociative features of epilepsy. This would indirectly imply that the patients with CPS have higher prevalence of dissociative symptoms compared with those with GTCS.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied and compared the dissociative experiences as well as the depression and anxiety levels between 24 patients suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy and 26 patients suffering from generalized tonic-clonic seizures. We used the Dissociative Experiences Scale to evaluate the dissociative experiences. A third group of healthy individuals was included as the control group. The statistical significance was fixed at 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant differences between the scores of DES-II of the healthy individuals and those of patients with epilepsy. However, there were no significant differences between the DES scores of different patients with epilepsy categorized according to neuropathology. There were also no significant differences between HAM-A and HAM-D scores between groups with epilepsy, but the scores were higher than those of the healthy individuals. There were significant differences between the DES scores in different sociodemographic groups such that higher scores were observed in groups with lower education (p<0.05). In addition, the scores on DES were higher in individuals with low socioeconomic status than in those with high socioeconomic status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and those with generalized tonic-clonic seizures have similar dissociative experiences which are both more than those found in individuals without epilepsy. However, these dissociative experiences may not be related to the neuropathological parameters as much as they are to the sociodemographic parameters like education, age, socioeconomic status, and sex. This shows that the psychopathology of dissociation in epilepsy is similar to that of the general population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Xijing Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University, No. 127 West Changle Road, Xi'an 710032, Shanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Gang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Health Department, Weifang People's Hospital, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Zhiling
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital, The Third Department of Neurology, Number 578, Guangzhou Dadaobei, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, Mathikere, Bangalore, India. Electronic address: drravi2121@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prakash
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003863:Depression / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Dissociative experiences; Epilepsy; Neuropathology