Am J Psychiatry 1978; 135:82-86
Copyright © 1978 by American Psychiatric Association
Neurogenic and hysterical seizures in children and adolescents: differential diagnostic and therapeutic considerations
DT Williams, H Spiegel and DI Mostofsky
For patients whose seizures are not controlled by medication alone,
psychotherapeutic intervention can sometimes play a useful adjunctive role
in both differential diagnosis and treatment. Diagnostic issues include the
differentiation between neurogenic and hysterical seizures as well as the
delineation of the possible role of psychogenic stress in triggering
neurogenic seizures. Therapeutic considerations focus on the alleviation of
precipitating stresses as well as the development of a sense of mastery in
the patient.
