By
Andres Kanner
Steven Schachter, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Description
This edited reference addresses controversial clinical issues of the psychiatric aspects of epilepsy. The book explores the reasons behind
the poor communication between psychiatrists and neurologists and suggests potential remedies to this important problem, and two chapters
are devoted to examining whether psychiatrists and neurologists are properly trained to recognize and treat conditions that both disciplines
commonly encounter in clinical practice. Identification of the causes behind the high rate of comorbidity between epilepsy and mood,
anxiety, psychotic and attention deficit disorders is given high priority in the volume, and a specific review of the evidence of common
pathogenic mechanisms that may be operant in epilepsy and these psychiatric disorders is included. Recently identified bidirectional
relationship between mood disorders and epilepsy and its implication in the course and response to treatment of the seizure disorder
are also explored. Several chapters are devoted to rectify common misunderstandings of the use of psychotropic drugs in patients with
epilepsy, including the use of antidepressant and central nervous system stimulants. Finally, one chapter explores the possibility of
organic causes of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.
Audience:
Neurologists, epileptologists, psychiatrists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, clinical psychologists, nurses,
social workers, medical students, residents in neurology and psychiatry, neuroscientists
