Epilepsy and Psychiatric Disorders: Is There a Common Genetic Susceptibility?

Abstract

According to epidemiological data, 25-48% of PWE suffer from mood disorders, and 14-31% from anxiety [2]. Moreover, depression represents one of the most common psychiatric disorders in PWE, with a point prevalence ranging from 12-37% in community settings [3]. In clinical studies, depressive symptoms in epilepsy have been associated with several variables such as poor seizure control, duration of epilepsy, having complex partial seizures or temporal lobe epilepsy, unemployment and the use of antiepileptic polytherapy.