true or false Is epilepsy a mental illness?

With 50 million patients worldwide, including 650,000 in France, epilepsy is not a rare disease. However, it is still poorly perceived and people who suffer from it suffer from many preconceived notions. One of them being confused with psychological disorders, epilepsy has historically been treated in psychiatric hospitals. But epilepsy is not a mental illness.

“Epilepsy is a neurological disease due to the hypersensitivity of neurons that is expressed in the form of seizures that can take different forms. The most well-known is the normal form, when the patient falls. But there are also what are called absences. In contact and consciousness The change is not systematic. If a crisis is not always visible to those around them, the patient clearly sees that he is losing consciousness. The thread of conversation, that there is a black hole; it is a repetition of this. Episodes that lead to consultation”, Neurologist at Toulouse University Hospital Center (CHU) Dr. Mary summarizes Danuel.

The disease is controlled in 70% of cases

In 70% of cases, epilepsy patients have disease well controlled by drug treatment. 30% have drug-resistant epilepsy, so they always have varying degrees of seizures. “These patients live with the fear of an attack that cannot be predicted. It is difficult to live with and can lead to social isolation,” Dr. Mary Danuel continues, who recalls that it is important to know how to behave when a person is the victim of a general aggression attack. Among the good actions: keep calm and let the emergency unfold, clear the area around the person so that he is not injured, alert the emergency services (15 or 18 or 112) if the emergency lasts more than 5 minutes or if a seizure occurs. Follow each other and if the person does not regain consciousness.

“Epilepsy is a disease that can start at any age, in children as well as in the elderly, and in various forms. The patient and the individual(s) are examined through detailed questioning. You may be epileptic with normal brain imaging or an electroencephalogram (EEG). ” explains the neurologist.