Schizophreniform Psychosis among Epileptics in a Mental Hospital

Abstract

Several years have passed since the last study of the psychiatric abnormalities shown by epileptic patients in an English mental hospital (2), during which time detailed information has become available about the development of schizophreniform states in some chronic epileptics (3). This study was undertaken to examine the mental state of patients with epilepsy resident in Bexley Hospital, using a semi-structured psychiatric interview technique (6). The criteria used for the definition of epilepsy were those of Gunn and Fenton (1)—a history of at least three epileptic attacks in a two-year-period, and continuation of anti-convulsant therapy if the period did not immediately precede the time of examination.