No description available.

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 2006. / Not embargoed. Vita. Bibliography: 62-72.

M.Sc. (Med.), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011 / Epilepsy, a chronic, often treatable condition, is one of the most common neurological conditions globally, with the prevalence of epilepsy significantly higher in developing regions of the world. In 2008, a household survey was undertaken within the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System (AHDSS) in rural, northeastern South Africa to identify the prevalence of and risk factors for active convulsive epilepsy. A single question was administered as part of the annual census to each household head. This single question sought to identify people with convulsions, while a random sample of 4,500 individuals was drawn from the Agincourt HDSS population as a way to validate the Stage One screening tool. During initial piloting of the Stage One screening question, the question was found to be adequately sensitive and significant (98.3% and 93.1%, respectively). A more specific questionnaire was administered in Stage Two, while a clinical exam and history was performed in Stage Three to conclusively diagnose epilepsy. The adjusted prevalence of active convulsive epilepsy in the three-stage study was 3.26 per 1,000, while the adjusted prevalence in the population sample was 7.72 per 1,000 individuals highlighting a significant difference due to possible methodological or cultural issues. Furthermore, a heterogeneous, random distribution of active convulsive epilepsy was found across the site, with the identification of possible familial clustering in a number of households. By utilizing univariate and multivariate analysis, this study found sex and a family history of seizures to be significant risk factors for developing epilepsy in rural South Africa. Abnormal deliveries and problems after delivery were found to be significant in the bivariate analysis, but not the multivariate analysis. These findings highlight the need for additional research exploring epilepsy in rural South Africa.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Boston University. / The purpose of this study was to investigate repressive handling of conflicts around hostility in epileptic children. There has been a considerable amount of evidence, from clinical material, of severe conflicts around hostility in epileptics. It has been further indicated that epileptics utilize repressive methods of handling the conflicts and that they appear to be in a pent-up state emotionally. It has been demonstrated, from previous research, that conflict in a given area, which is handled by repressive methods of defense, will lead to the inhibition of learning of material related to the conflict. The general hypothesis formulated from these considerations was that epileptics would show cognitive inhibition of material with a hostile connotation and would show increased cognitive inhibition when hostility was induced. An epileptic group of twenty-five children and a normal group of thirty-two children, of ages seven-and-a-half to twelve-and-a-half, were selected. They were given the Rorschach Test followed by four word lists, two consisting of neutral words and two of hostile words, presented on a Gerbrand's design memory drum. The method of serial anticipation was used in presenting the lists. Half of each group was criticized before the second pair of lists was presented, in a manner calculated to induce hostility. The operational predictions were as follows: Prediction 1· The epileptics will require more trials than will the normal group in learning the hostile list of words before hostility is induced. Prediction 2. The epileptic and normal groups will require more trials in learning the second list of neutral words after hostility is induced. Prediction 3· The epileptic and normal groups will both require more trials in learning the second list of hostile words after hostility is induced. Prediction 4. The normal group will have equal difficulty in learning the second neutral and hostile lists after hostility is induced. Prediction 5· The epileptic group will require more trials in learning the second list of hostile words than the second list of neutral words after hostility is induced. The results of the experiment supported only the fourth prediction, which was not a central one in the study. Further statistical analyses, which took into account hostile drive strength scores as well as management of hostility and rate of learning, also failed to show group differences in these measures or differential learning of the hostile and neutral material within or between the two experimental groups. Criticism of performance was found to have a significant detrimental effect on the learning of the second hostile list but not on the second neutral list, when the data for all subjects were combined. Thus the clinical finding of repressive handling of conflicts around hostility in epileptics was not experimentally confirmed in children with idiopathic epilepsy. The results of the present study do not disprove the possibility that hostility is involved in the development and precipitation of seizures, but they do indicate t hat children with idiopathic epilepsy do not show significant differences from normal children on measures of hostile drive strength or of the management of hostility. The findings leave open several possibilities for alternative explanation of the relationship between hostility and epilepsy. One among such alternatives is that of a hypothesis which would relate hostility to a more immediate and direct discharge in a seizure than would be involved in the repression hypothesis. [TRUNCATED]

This thesis does several things. It presents a brief history of epilepsy as a foundation to the story of the early development of the New Castle facility. The location of the village caused considerable competition among the counties desiring the institution; space is devoted to that competition. Attention is also given to the selection of the first superintendent Dr. Walter C. Van Nuys. The major method of treatment of epileptics in the early twentieth century was custodial. This study emphasizes the physical development of the New Castle institution in its early years to show the type of custodial care the patients received.

Thesis (D. Psych.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2007.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1997. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1997. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.

M.A. / Himmehoch (1984, 1987) in discussion of major mood disorders related to epilepsy, describes an affective condition termed subictal mood disorder. Patients with subictal mood disorder are divided into manic-depressive and dysthymic subtypes, the former resembling an atypical, usually rapid-cycling bipolar mood disorder. The latter dysthymic group, are characterised by a baseline dysthymia, severe recurrent depressive episodes, and transient euphorias. In addition, these dysthymic patients are described as being especially prone to impulsive suicide attempts, extreme irritability, rage outbursts and deliberate self-harm. Himmelhoch (1984, 1987) postulates temporolimbic dysfunction with both ictal and subictal (subclinical) changes as the underlying aetiology. Temporolimbic phenomena such as anamnesic, dissociative and perceptive distortions are important aspects of neuropsychiatric phenomenology. Clinical evidence, however, suggests that these occurrences are not routinely sought for or uncovered during the clinical evaluation of patients and their relevance for atypical affective presentations not clearly understood. The aim of this clinical survey was to evaluate the presence and nature of both temporolimbic dysfunction and subictal mood disorder among a subpopulation of private psychiatric patients. Furthermore in order to explicate a possible association between the above, the electroencephalographic records of these patients were examined. Records of 761 patients who attended a private practice over a two-year period were retrospectively reviewed. 546 patients had been questioned in sufficient detail and were deemed reliable in their responses. Of the 546 patients reviewed 128 (23,4%) were found to have experienced significant temporolimbic phenomena. The most common features were dissociative states, deja vu, premonitions, jamais vu and tactile hallucinations. 150 (27,5%) patients met Himmelhoch's criteria for the presence of subictal mood disorder. Of those 150, 100 (66,7%) demonstrated significant temporolimbic phenomena. EEG results, with the exclusion of 16 patients (the appropriate records not being available), highlighted 64 iY (76,2%) ofthe probands as having met the criteria for significant temporolimbic phenomena and subictal mood disorder and demonstrating unequivocal abnormality onEEG. Taking into account the sample bias of this particular private practice, and the obvious flaws of a retrospective, naturalistic survey of this nature, the concept of sub ictal mood disorder is discussed. Case vignettes are used to illustrate the phenomenological presentation ofthese patients and the potential benefits of the addition of anticonvulsants in their management.