Psychological Correlates of Epilepsy

Abstract

The main objective of the present research was to investigate the vulnerability of epileptics towards various psychological disorders. It was hypothesized that epileptics are significantly different from non-epileptics in terms of their vulnerability to psychological disorders. The sample included 30 epileptics (i.e. grandmal, myoclonic, primary partial seizures, temporal lobe) from Institute of
Neurosciences, Hayat Shaheed Teaching Hospital and Mental Hospital Peshawar and 30 non-epileptics volunteers were selected from the population of Peshawar University. Human Figure Drawing Test (HFDT) and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-1) were administered individually on each participant. Results indicated significant qualitative and quantitative differences between epileptics and non-epileptics. Epileptics scored higher than non-epileptics on several clinical scales of MMPI: Among epileptics, patients with temporal lobe epilepsy showed higher mean scores on emotional indicators (of HFDT) as compared to other epileptics and non-epileptics suggesting that epileptic group may have more emotional problems. Therefore, it was concluded that epileptic patients were more anxious, aggressive, insecure and on the whole had poor self- concept and more symptoms of depression.