ABSTRACT

Mental state of the patients with epilepsy has been evaluated in various studies. Psychiatric comorbidities are known to be relatively frequent in patients with epilepsy. The aim of this study was to compare the psychopathological features of female patients with conversion disorder (CD) and epilepsy with nonintractable seizures with healthy controls.

The sample recruited from psychiatry and neurology outpatient clinics in a tertiary care center. The study population consisted of 32 female patients with CD, 30 female patients with epilepsy and 31 female healthy controls with similar age and education levels. The psychopathological state was assessed by clinical measures including Brief Symptom Inventory, Somatosensory Amplification Scale and a sociodemographic data form.

Sociodemographic features did not differ between the groups. The subscales of Brief Symptom Inventory were significantly higher in patients with conversion disorder than epilepsy, and in patients with epilepsy than the healthy control. But Somatosensory Amplification Scale differ significantly only between patients with conversion disorder and healthy control.

The psychopathological features of three groups differed in most of the items. More severe psychopathological symptoms in epileptic patients than the healthy control but milder than Conversion Disorder may imply that mental state of patients with epilepsy is determined by different factors other than the clinical factors related with seizure.

Keywords: Conversion disorder, epilepsy, psychopathology