IntroductionDifferentpsychological and social factors may have long lasting effects on patient’s physicaland mental wellbeing.
Particularly, personality changes were commonly reportedin patients with epilepsy. It was estimated that 30-70% of theepileptic patients had comorbid anxiety and/or depression1,2 andhigher incidence rate was found in both hospital-based and community-basedstudies.3Depression, panic and anger considered as one of the indicators ofepileptic seizure and existence of any indicator had effect on the proper diagnosisand management of epileptic seizure and psychological disorder.4 Seoat al. study to explore the prevalence of aggression and associated factorsfound a higher physical and verbal aggression in patients with uncontrolledepilepsy.5 Another study reported the prevalence of anger in epilepsy patients.
6Although studies reported prevalence of aggression in epileptic patientshowever, the effect of aggression is yet not clearly understood. In addition, frequent complaints of frustration with regards toacademic pursuit, personal goals, effectivecommunication and relationship with closed ones were common in epileptic patients than others.7 Moreover, youngpatients reported high level of parental confrontation, relationship problems withsiblings and peers, low academic achievement, low self-concept and pressures.
8,9The factors effecting self-concept of epileptic patientsin relation to academic achievement though require more exploration.10In non-Western culture, limited work has been done on the factors likethe psychological traits in epilepsy. The impact of mood disorders on epilepsyis well recognized and has considerable effect on patients’ quality of life and competencies11 however its association with seizure12,13 and etiology14is not established and several issues are remained debatable. This study was conducted to assess the psychological traits and its association with differenttype of seizures in adult epilepsy. This researchwill be beneficial to the health care providers and community workers in themanagement of patients with epilepsy who are in need. It will guide them in thedevelopment of skills require to handle cases more professionally and inpreparation of strategies particularly to improve patients’ psychologicalwellbeing including self-awareness and motivation.
After reviewing theliterature, it was hypothesized that mean scores of epileptic patients on traitanxiety, achievement, dominance and aggression will be significantly higher thannon-epileptic patients.
