الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Psychogenic non epileptic seizures have been recognized for at least 2,500 years, and the condition still poorly understood. There is no generally recognized definition, or classification system for this disorder.
Management of PNES, remains a challenge and involves combined effort of neurologist, psychiatrist, and psychologist. The condition’s overall prognosis is poor and is associated with a higher degree of impairment and reduced quality of life.
Dual diagnosis of both PNES and epilepsy is a more challenging task requiring a detailed description of all types of seizure experienced by the patient prior to vEEG monitoring and waiting for all the seizure types to be recorded during vEEG which is not always easy to be detected during single EEG recording.
The exact psychological mechanisms underpinning PNES are poorly understood. Patients with PNES have high rates of comorbid psychiatric disorders. The comorbidities may act as precipitator or triggers of PNES, or they may coexist without such a direct relation.
Our study aimed at studying the prevalence of associated psychiatric disorders and personality disorder among epileptic patients with versus without psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). Also, to assess the big five personality traits and their correlation to the risk of psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES).
The study included Thirty-three patients diagnosed with epileptic seizures, and Thirty-three patients experience both epileptic and psychogenic non epileptic seizures attended outpatient epilepsy clinic and inpatient epilepsy center at El- Hadara University Hospital. Those with epileptic seizures occurring due to structural or metabolic causes or toxic events, patients diagnosed with medical disorders which may affect psychiatric manifestations and patients with Previous diagnosis of psychosis or substance abuse were excluded from the study.
All cases were subjected to thorough history taking including sociodemographic data, medical history, history about the onset of seizures, duration, semiology, postictal changes, and the prescribed medications. Full neurological examination was done, and previous brain imaging were reviewed. All the included sample had a conventional EEG recording and Patients with unclear clinical features did vEEG recording to confirm the diagnosis of PNES.
The studied cases had undergone assessment through The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.), Structured Clinical Interview (SCID-II) and Goldberg’s International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) Big-Five personality questionnaire
Statistical analysis was done on the results and the study revealed the following:
• Patients with comorbid epileptic seizures and PNES were generally suffering from more comorbid psychiatric illness and the difference was statistically significant in comparison to patients in the epileptic group