CBT and Epilepsy
 

CBT & Neuropsychiatry


Can any CBT connaisseur here PLEASE advise or direct me to some CBT literature that would help in the
1. assessment & treatment of patients with somatisation
2. evaluation and implementation of CBT in the management and prevention of epileptic seizures?

Thanks!

Re: CBT and Epilepsy
 

Hi Vashista,
A chapter that comes to mind is 'Somatic problems' by Salkovskis, P. in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Psychiatric Problems.
A quick scan of Amazon shows there is a CBT book on understanding and treating somatoform disorders coming out february 2005. Not much help now though.
Journal search will probably give you more material.
Thats all I got at the moment, good luck!
James

Re: CBT and Epilepsy
 

I'll second the recommendation of Paul Salkovskis' chapter on somatization.

I'm not aware of any research on Cognitive Therapy with epilepsy. Generally, epilepsy is seen as a neurological problem and I don't know of any reason to expect CT to prevent seizures. Of course, CT could be useful in helping the individual cope with their epilepsy.

Re: CBT and Epilepsy
 

Hello Vashista,

My wife has seizures which best fit DSM classification "Conversion Disorder with Seizures". I have been in touch with researchers of Nonepileptic Seizures and there is very little in the way of treatment options.

The best I've seen on the web is at mnepilepsy.org. Click "research" and then click "nonepileptic seizures" for treatment options. These are great articles and I spoke directly with Curt LaFrance, one of the authors, and he is currently involved with The Workshop on Nonepileptic Seizures which concludes with a meeting in December.

Hope this helps,

Lawrence

CBT and Non-epileptic Seizures
 

If we're talking about non-epilectic seizures or pseudoseizures, there has been some work done on applying CBT to the problem:

Goldstein, L. H.; Deale, A. C.; Mitchell-O'Malley, S. J.; Toone, B. K. & Mellers, J. D. C (20040. An Evaluation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a Treatment for Dissociative Seizures: A Pilot Study. Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology, 17, 41-49.

Abstract: Evaluated in an open trial the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy as a treatment of adults with dissociative seizures (i.e., "pseudoseizures"). Although suggestions have been made concerning the management of patients with dissociative seizures, no studies have previously evaluated the systematic use of cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of this disorder. Twenty patients diagnosed with dissociative seizures were offered treatment comprising 12 sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy. Principal outcome measures were dissociative seizure frequency and psychosocial functioning, including improvement in employment status and mood. Measures were administered before treatment, at the end of treatment, and at a 6-month follow-up. Treatment was completed by 16 patients (questionnaire measures were not available for 4 patients who discontinued treatment). Following treatment, there was a highly significant reduction in seizure frequency and an improvement in self-rated psychosocial functioning. These improvements were maintained at the 6-month follow-up. There was also a tendency for patients to have improved their employment status between the start of treatment and the 6-month follow-up period.