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Query: UMLS:C0036572 (seizures)
 80,221 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Automatic episodes of aggressive or violent behaviour may occur during or after an epileptic fit. Epileptic automatisms are regarded by the law as 'insane automatisms'. A person who commits a crime during the course of a seizure is therefore legally insane and must be committed to a psychiatric hospital. The law of insanity is inappropriate when applied to epileptic automatisms. A change in the law is therefore necessary to remove epileptic offenders from the legal ambit of insanity, and to save them the threat of detention in a mental hospital as a consequence of their crime.
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PMID:Epilepsy and criminal law. 151 26

The awareness, understanding, and attitudes toward epilepsy in 1,278 men and women were surveyed in Henan, China in 1988. Results showed that 93% had read or heard about epilepsy; 77% knew someone who had epilepsy; 72% had seen someone who was having a seizure; 57% would object to having their children associate with persons with epilepsy in school or at play; 87% would object to having their children marry a person with epilepsy; 53% believed that epileptic persons should not be employed in jobs as other persons are; 16% believed that epilepsy was a form of insanity; 40% did not know the cause of epilepsy; 10% did not know what an epileptic attack was like; and 17% did not know what to recommend if their friends or relatives had epilepsy. The relationship between the responses and the respondents' age, sex, marital status, number of offspring, level of education, occupation, and residence was analyzed. Education reduced the respondent's prejudice against play and employment, but did not change their objection to marriage and appeared to have reinforced their linking epilepsy with insanity. As compared with the surveys conducted in Western countries, our survey showed that awareness of epilepsy in China was greater, if not the same, but the attitudes toward epilepsy were much more negative.
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PMID:Survey of public awareness, understanding, and attitudes toward epilepsy in Henan province, China. 231 70

Among the very few diseases that can be traced back to ancient times none has stimulated human phantasy as much as epilepsy, and the many names given to epilepsy reflects the different trends of thinking on the topic over the past two and a half thousand years. The ancient Greek believed epilepsy to be a sacred disease with the body being invaded by a God. The view that demons and evil spirits rather than Gods were responsible for the disease prevailed throughout the middle ages, influenced by Christian thinking. This led people with epilepsy to be treated, as the mentally ill, with contempt and pity. Up to the latter half of the 19th century epilepsy remained an integral part of psychiatry. The concept of the epileptic personality, stating that the behaviour and consequently the seizures themselves came from a constitutional hereditary psychopathic make-up, was deeply entrenched. The process of distinguishing epilepsy from insanity began with the development of neurology as a new and independent discipline, helped by the discovery of electroencephalography EEG and potent antiepileptic drugs. It became more widely accepted that most epileptic patients have normal mental states. It was argued that the psychiatric consequences of having epilepsy depended on the existence of pathological brain lesions, side-effects of inadequate drugs and the psychological stress of living with a chronic and debilitating disease.
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PMID:[The mind and epilepsy: opinions and viewpoints over the course of time]. 267 62

In May 1983, the Italian Institute of Public Opinion DOXA ran, for the Italian League Against Epilepsy, a survey to evaluate public attitudes toward epilepsy in Italy. Eight questions were addressed to a sample of 1,043 adults. Twenty-seven percent did not know what epilepsy was. The least knowledge was observed among elderly people, in the southern regions and the islands, in villages more than in cities, and, in particular, among the poorest social classes. Sixty-one percent had known someone who had epilepsy, and 52% had seen someone having a seizure. When those familiar with epilepsy were asked if they would object to having their children in school or at play associate with persons with seizures, only 11% replied they would object. Seventy percent thought that persons with epilepsy should be employed in jobs like other people, and only 8% thought epilepsy to be a form of insanity. When those familiar with epilepsy were asked if epilepsy is a curable illness, one-third answered negatively, one-third answered affirmatively, and one-third had no personal opinion. The Italian data seem to fall within the standard of the American (1979) and West German (1978) surveys.
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PMID:Public attitudes toward epilepsy in Italy: results of a survey and comparison with U.S.A. and West German data. 400 81

At 5 years intervals, during the past 30 years, the American Institute of Public Opinion has obtained answers to questions about epilepsy from representative members of the adult population throughout the United States. During this period, knowledge of epilepsy was found in 90 to 95% of the people interviewed. When those familiar with epilepsy were asked if they would object to their children playing with epileptics, the upward trend in those without objections from 1949 to 1979 was 57%, 68%, 67%, 77%, 81%, 84%, 89%. When asked if they thought epilepsy was a form of insanity, the trend in those who did not was: 59%, 68%, 74%, 79%, 81%, 86%, 92%. When asked if epileptics should be employed, the affirmative answers increased with the following variations: 45%, 60%, 75%, 82%, 76%, 81%, 79%. The adverse responses were proportionately reduced. In each of the seven surveys, the most favorable opinion was among the better educated, better employed, younger, and urban members of the population. The states in the eastern, midwestern, and western regions initially showed less prejudice than those in the southern region. Now there is greater uniformity in opinion throughout the nation. Factors that have contributed to the more enlightened opinion include educational efforts by professional and lay societies regarding epilepsy; improved control of seizures; employment by a number of major industries of individuals with a history of attacks; and more reasonable legal regulations concerning immigration, marriage, and the operation of motor vehicles.
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PMID:A survey of public attitudes toward epilepsy in 1979 with an indication of trends over the past thirty years. 741 67

The public awareness, understanding and attitudes towards epilepsy were evaluated in a north Indian population in 1992 by personal interview method. The study revealed that 92 per cent of the respondents had read or heard about epilepsy. More than 55 per cent knew someone and had seen a case of seizure. Eighty five per cent of the respondents were not aware of the cause of epilepsy or had wrong beliefs. Eighteen and 15 per cent thought epilepsy to be a hereditary disorder and a form of insanity respectively. About 40 per cent of the respondents felt that children with epilepsy should not be sent to school and also objected to their children's contact with epileptics at school or at play. Two-thirds of the respondents objected to their children marrying a person who had ever had epilepsy. Twenty per cent were ignorant about the manifestation of epilepsy and an equal number were unable to recommend any therapy in case their relatives or friends had epilepsy. Fifty seven per cent did not know what kind of first aid should be given during the epileptic attack. Although the awareness of epilepsy among Indian people was comparable to that of individuals in Western countries, the attitudes of the Indians were much more negative. Better educated people belonging to higher occupational groups were less prejudiced against social contact and schooling of their children with epileptic children compared to low educational and occupational groups.
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PMID:Public awareness, understanding & attitudes toward epilepsy. 755 8

A survey of public awareness and understanding of and attitudes toward epilepsy was made in Taipei City and Chin-San Village, Taiwan in 1992. In a population sample of 2,610 adults, 87% had read or heard about epilepsy, 70% knew someone who had epilepsy, 56% had seen someone having a seizure, 18% would object to having their children associated with persons with epilepsy, 72% would object to having their children marry a person with epilepsy, 31% believed that epileptic persons should not be employed in jobs as other persons are, 7% believed that epilepsy was a form of insanity, 34% did not know the cause of epilepsy, 13% did not know what an epileptic attack was like, and 18% did not know what to recommend if their friends or relatives had epilepsy. Youth, higher education, and upper levels of employment were correlated with answers that were more favorable concerning epilepsy in all survey questions except for the question regarding marriage, for which the reverse was noted. The attitudes toward epilepsy disclosed by this study were more favorable than those detected in a similar survey conducted in Henan Province, China. The comparison suggests that the exposure to Western culture and socioeconomic system in Taiwan might have helped reduce the discrimination against epilepsy.
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PMID:Survey of public awareness, understanding, and attitudes toward epilepsy in Taiwan. 761 27

Belief that the full moon is associated with psychiatric disturbance persists despite 50 years research showing no association. This article traces the historical roots of belief in the power of the moon to cause disorders the mind, especially insanity and epilepsy. Putative mechanisms of lunar action are critiqued. It is proposed that modern findings showing lack of lunar effect can be reconciled with pre-modern beliefs in the moon's power through a mechanism of sleep deprivation. Prior to the advent of modern lighting the moon was a significant source of nocturnal illumination that affected sleep-wake cycle, tending to cause sleep deprivation around the time of full moon. This partial sleep deprivation would have been sufficient to induce mania/hypomania in susceptible bipolar patients and seizures in patients with seizure disorders. The advent of modern lighting attenuated this lunar effect, especially in modern urban areas, where most 20th century studies of lunar effects on the mind have been conducted. The hypothesis presented in this article is open to empirical validation or falsification. Potential tests for the sleep-deprivation hypothesis of lunar action are discussed.
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PMID:The moon and madness reconsidered. 1036 73

JOHN BINGHAM ROBERTS (1852-1924) of Philadelphia was an active general surgeon in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries. He made pioneering contributions to a number of areas of surgery. From 1880 until the end of his career, he was one of the few American surgeons to advocate an aggressive exploratory approach to cranial fractures in an effort to avoid consequences such as infection, delayed seizures, and insanity. In his 1885 article in the Transactions of the American Surgical Association titled "The Field and Limitation of the Operative Surgery of the Human Brain," he predicted that with antiseptic precautions and the growing knowledge of cerebral localization, operations on the brain would become commonplace. This work predated that of Horsley, Keen, and many others. Roberts had a continuing interest in head injuries, cranial fractures, and the development of trephines and burrs for reconstructive cranial work, but his active enthusiasm for brain surgery diminished in the 1890s. Nevertheless, Roberts was a very prolific teacher and leader in American surgery who is perhaps best remembered for his monographs and textbooks on general, orthopedic, plastic, and reconstructive surgery.
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PMID:John Bingham Roberts and the first American monograph on human brain surgery. 1156 61

The aim of this study is to find out whether bromide was able to cause conversion of epilepsy to psychosis i.e., so-called paradoxical normalization such as has been seen in treatment with modern antiepileptic drugs. Spontaneous conversion has been known for three hundred years. Locock introduced bromide in the treatment of epilepsy in 1857. Belgrave wrote in 1868 on its effect on epileptic attacks and concommitant insanity. In 1868 Holm observed reduction of the frequency of seizures at the same time as psychotic symptoms or just dysphoria. In 1875 Voisin described a dose-dependent intoxication with psychosis and/or neurological signs. Stark in 1875 and Bannister in 1881 were the first to clearly describe the antagonism between epileptic seizures and psychotic symptoms, an antagonism or conversion described by many authors, both in cases with high and low dosage, and with and without intoxication. Thus, the title of this paper should be answered in the affirmative. Bromide has been used as a sedative and has rarely caused intoxication. Thus the presence of epilepsy is not a condition for the development of bromide intoxication. A case with epilepsy and fatal massive bromide intoxication is reported. It is discussed whether the pathological findings give support to Wolf's hypothesis of latent epileptic activity in subcortical pathways during "normalization".
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PMID:Does bromide cause conversion of epilepsy to psychosis? 1161 98


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