Psychosis with frontal lobe epilepsy responds to carbamazepine

Fighting with Spirits: Migration Trauma, Acculturative Stress, and New Sibling Transition-A Clinical Case Study of an 8-Year-Old Girl with Absence Epilepsy

In this article, we discuss the impact of migration and acculturation processes on the cultural, personal identity, and mental health of children who immigrate to a Western, multicultural environment, and the challenges clinicians in such environments face, when confronted with non-Western idioms of distress and healing practices. We do that by presenting a challenging clinical case of an 8-year-old girl who presented with very disorganized behavior, which matches a culturally accepted construct of spirit possession, in the context of migration trauma, acculturative stress, and new sibling transition. We identify cultural conflict in school and bullying as major mediators between acculturative stress and mental distress. We also aim at identifying vulnerability, risk and protective factors, and the importance of cultural coping resources. We explore in depth the patient's cultural background and the family's belief system and culturally shaped narratives, in order to arrive at a cultural formulation, which focuses on the significance of idioms of distress in shaping psychopathology and influencing the personal and interpersonal course of trauma- and stress-related disorders. We also call attention to the finding that in children, idioms of distress may manifest themselves in a somatic manner. We argue, together with other researchers, that spirit possession deserves more interest as an idiom of distress and a culture-specific response to traumatizing events. We finally emphasize the importance of an anti-reductionist clinical stance, that is able to use different levels of understanding processes of distress and healing, and seeks to reconciliate cultural divides and integrate different explanatory frameworks and help-seeking practices.

Prognostic factors for outcome in pediatric probable lesional frontal lobe epilepsy with an unknown cause (cryptogenic)

The outcomes of children with cryptogenic seizures most probably arising from the frontal lobe are difficult to predict. We retrospectively collected data on 865 pediatric patients with epilepsy. In 78 patients with cryptogenic frontal lobe epilepsy, the age at first seizure was inversely correlated with the outcome, including the degree of intellectual disability/developmental delay (P = .002) and seizure frequency (P = .02) after adequate treatment. Intellectual disability was more prevalent in children with a first seizure at 0 to 3 years old (P = .002), and seizures were more frequent in those with a first seizure at 0 to 6 years old than at 7 to 16 years old (P = .026). For pediatric cryptogenic frontal lobe epilepsy, the age at first seizure is important and inversely correlated with outcome, including seizure frequency and intellectual disability.

Temporal lobe epilepsy masquerading as psychosis--a case report and literature review

The psychoses of epilepsy are well recognized complications of seizure disorders, diagnosed easily from the history. However, in the absence of recognized seizures, the diagnosis can be challenging. We present a 27-year-old female, who suffered a treatment refractory psychosis for 6 years. She did not report, or display, any seizure activity, and extensive investigation was unremarkable. The onset of new symptoms prompted a repeat work-up which clinched the diagnosis of psychosis of epilepsy. Treatment with Lamotrigine and Amisulpiride achieved an excellent response, and she has remained symptom free for 7 months. We conclude with a brief literature review.

Cognitive and behavioral complications of frontal lobe epilepsy in children: a review of the literature

Frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) is considered the second most common type of the localization-related epilepsies of childhood. Still, the etiology of FLE in children, its impact on cognitive functioning and behavior, as well as the response to antiepileptic drug treatment in children has not been sufficiently studied. This review focuses on these aspects of FLE in childhood, and reveals that FLE in childhood is most often cryptogenic, and impacts on a broad range of cognitive functions. The nature and severity of cognitive deficits are highly variable, although impaired attention and executive functions are most frequent. Young age at seizure onset is the only potential risk factor for poor cognitive outcome that has been consistently reported. The behavioral disturbances associated with FLE are also highly variable, although attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder seems most frequent. In 40% of children with FLE satisfactory seizure control could not be achieved. This is a higher percentage than reported for the general population of children with epilepsy. Therefore, pediatric FLE, even if cryptogenic in nature, is frequently complicated by impairment of cognitive function, behavioral disturbances, and therapy-resistance. Given the impact of these complications, there is a need for studies of the etiology of frontal lobe epilepsy-associated cognitive and behavioral disturbances, as well as pharmacotherapy-resistance.

Post-ictal psychosis in adolescent Niemann-Pick disease type C

We describe the presentation of an adolescent with juvenile-onset Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) who presented with post-ictal psychosis in the context of a developing seizure disorder. After demonstrating mild gait disturbance beginning at the age of 4 years, he was diagnosed with NPC at age 12 on the basis of 95% of cultured fibroblasts staining positive for filipin and a reduced fibroblast cholesterol esterification rate. He then developed a seizure disorder at age 15, where clusters of seizures produced typical psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions. His seizure disorder responded to valproate, which resulted in a settling of his psychotic symptoms. Whilst post-ictal psychosis is rarely reported prior to the age of 16, NPC in adolescents and adults is particularly psychotogenic and may increase the risk for post-ictal psychosis in the pediatric population.