title: Electroencephalographic findings in schizophreniform and affective disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pathological findings in electroencephalography (EEG) are discussed as a possible marker of organic mental disorders and a therapeutic response to anticonvulsive medication under these conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared the prevalence of EEG abnormalities in 100 patients with schizophrenia, 100 patients with schizoaffective disorder, 51 patients with acute polymorphic psychotic disorder, 100 patients with bipolar disorder, 100 patients with unipolar major depression and 76 healthy control subjects with the findings of a previous study using well-diagnosed, large control samples (13,658 pilots and aircrew personnel).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We detected an increased number of pathological EEG findings with intermittent rhythmic delta or theta activity in 7% of patients with schizophrenia, 7% of patients with schizoaffective disorder, 5.9% of patients with acute polymorphic psychosis, 6% of patients with bipolar disorder, 4% of unipolar depressed patients and 3.9% of the own control group, compared to 1% of strictly controlled healthy subjects. One-sided logistic regression revealed an association between pathological EEGs and the diagnosis of schizophrenia (Wald W = 3.466, p = 0.0315), schizoaffective disorder (W = 3.466, p = 0.0315) and bipolar disorder (W = 2.862, p = 0.0455).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that the previously developed local area network inhibition model for a potential paraepileptic pathomechanism can explain the relevance of such findings in different psychiatric disorders.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany ;
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Endres
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany ;
authors.forename: Evgeniy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Perlov
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany ;
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Feige
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany ;
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fleck
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany ;
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bartels
authors.affiliation: b Freiburg Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurosurgery , University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany.
authors.forename: Dirk-Matthias
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Altenmüller
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy , University Medical Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany ;
authors.forename: Ludger
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tebartz van Elst
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: EEG; IRDA; IRTA; local area network inhibition; schizophrenia