Psychological Distress Among Patients with Epilepsy

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain characterized by recurrent seizures which are physical reactions to sudden, usually brief, too much electrical discharges in a group of brain cells. Psychological distress often accompanies epilepsy. It badly affects the disease and the treatment outcome. Whereas, familial social support is a positive factor. The objective of the present study was to see the difference of Psychological distress among the patients of Epilepsy; the comparisons on the variables of the study were made between gender, age, marital status, education, socio-economic status and type of Epilepsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sample comprised of 50 patients with epilepsy. These participants were divided into three subgroups according to their ages that are children, adolescence and adults. Patients were taken from hospitals Islamabad and Muzaffarabad (AJK). RESULTS: The result showed that psychological distress is higher among male patients with generalized epilepsy and among those who are un-married, un-educated, having low socioeconomic status and lower familial social support. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that psychological distress is common co morbidity in patients with epilepsy. During treatment, Counseling to the patients and the family can better help in coping with distress during their illness.