Longitudinal study for childhood epilepsy.

In the early stage of development, while being helped and protected by the parents, the child responds to and learns from the actions of the parents, thus forming his own pattern of behavior. During this period, concurrent formation of personality underlies the behavior of the child. When the development of behavior of epileptic children related to the treatment is evaluated from this point of view, it may be said that their behavior of periodically visiting hospitals for medical examination and of regularly taking medicines two to three times daily are dependent entirely upon their parents in the early stages. After this period of dependency, they go through the adolescent period of preparation for independence, then proceed to the adult period of self-management. As far as the initiative in the management of epilepsy is concerned, when the patient is still a child, the parents will have the initiative. However, through the transitional period of adolescence, it gradually moves into the hands of the patient himself. Whether the parents can regularly continue this management depends largely on their personality, particularly on the success in establishing the identity of being the parent of the epileptic patient. On the other hand, whether the child can take the initiative in continuing the management regularly depends largely upon the parents’ behavior in the management of epilepsy as well as on the development of the child‘s personality. Moreover, the behavior related to the management of epilepsy at home as mentioned above can be a main cause of epileptic seizure or relief from it. For the above reasons, I have taken up the patients’ behavior relative to the periodical examinations and taking of medicine as the key behavior in the treatment of epilepsy in order to carry out the developmental-behaviological follow-up of the expression of epileptic seizures and evaluated the theory of personality in accordance with E. Erikson’s‘ “Identity Theory” in the outpatients who have been treated for 10 years or more since their childhood.