Disturbi di personalità in pazienti con epilessia vs pazienti con crisi psicogene non epilettiche

We investigated psychiatric and cognitive profiles of patients with epilepsy compared to patients with PNES and patients with epilepsy associated to PNES. We evaluated 37 consecutive inpatients (hospitalized for video- EEG monitoring): 20 epileptic patients (group I), 11 patients with PNES (group II) and 6 patients with epilepsy associated to PNES (group III). All patients were screened for Axis I (psychiatric disorders) and Axis II (personality disorders) with two clinical semi-structured interviews. In group I (n = 20): 10 patients (50%) presented a psychiatric comorbidity (Axis I, Axis II or Axis I + Axis II). All patients with PNES (group II + III) presented a psychiatric diagnosis (100%) compared to 50% of patients with epilepsy. We did not observe any mood disorders in patients with PNES, on the contrary we noted compared to 25% of mood disorders in patients with epilepsy (p < 0.05). From a psychiatric standpoint PNES are heterogeneous disorders. Patients with PNES had a higher incidence of psychiatric disorder compared to patients without PNES.