Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T18:08:43.705Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Aetiology of Aggression in Temporal-Lobe Epilepsy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

J. L Herzberg  and
P. B. C. Fenwick
J. L Herzberg*
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital, Guy's Hospital
P. B. C. Fenwick
Affiliation:
The Maudsley Hospital
*
∗Guy's Hospital, St Thomas Street, London SE1 9RT
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A retrospective case-note survey was carried out on 31 subjects admitted with temporal-lobe epilepsy to the Maudsley hospital from 1974–1983 inclusive. Fourteen aggressive subjects were compared with the non-aggressive patients on 95 organic, developmental, and social variables. Aggressive behaviour was associated with male sex, early onset of seizures, and a history of long-standing behavioural problems. Aggressive subjects had lower mean IQ scores and poorer occupational records than controls. No relationship was found between aggression and the presence of specific EEG or CAT scan findings, or a history of psychosis. The results demonstrate the complex interplay between organic and socially mediated factors underlying aggressive behaviour in temporal-lobe epilepsy.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 1 , July 1988 , pp. 50 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamec, R. E. & Stark-Adamec, C. (1983) Limbic kindling and animal behaviour: implications for human psychopathology associated with complex partial seizures. Biological Psychiatry, 18, 269–293.Google Scholar
Bear, D. M. (1986) Behavioural changes in temporal lobe epilepsy: conflict, confusion, challenge. In Aspects of Epilepsy and Psychiatry (eds Trimble, M. R. & Bolwig, T. G.). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Bear, D. M. & Fedio, P. (1977) Quantitative analysis of interictal behavior in temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of Neurology, 34, 454–467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bingley, T. (1958) Mental symptoms in temporal lobe epilepsy and temporal lobe gliomas with special reference to laterality of lesion and the relationship between handedness and brainedness. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 33 (suppl. 120): 1–151.Google Scholar
Currie, S., Heathfield, W., Henson, R. & Scott, D. (1971) Clinical course and prognosis of temporal lobe epilepsy: a survey of 666 patients. Brain, 94, 173–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davinsky, O. & Bear, D. M. (1984) Varieties of aggressive behaviour in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 651–656.Google Scholar
Delgado-Escueta, A., Mattson, R. & King, L. (1981) The nature of aggression during epileptic seizures. New England Journal of Medicine, 305, 711–716.Google Scholar
Falconer, M. A. (1973) Reversibility by temporal-lobe resection of the behavioural abnormalities of temporal-lobe epilepsy. New England Journal of Medicine, 289, 451–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenton, G. W. (1972) Epilepsy and automatism. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 7, 57–64.Google Scholar
Fenwick, P. (1981) Precipitation and inhibition of seizures. In Epilepsy and Psychiatry (eds Reynolds, E.H. & Trimble, M. R.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Fenwick, P. (1986) Aggression and epilepsy. In Aspects of Epilepsy and Psychiatry (eds Trimble, M. R. & Bolwig, T. G.). Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Gastaut, H., Morrin, G. & Lesevre, N. (1955) Etudes du compartment des epileptiques psychomoteur dans 1'interval de leurs crises. Annals of Medical Psychology, 113, 1–29.Google Scholar
Gunn, J. (1977) Epileptics in Prison. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gunn, J. & Robertson, G. (1976) Drawing a criminal profile. British Journal of Criminology, 16, 156–160.Google Scholar
Hermann, B. P., Dikmen, S., Schwartz, M. S. & Karnes, W. E. (1982) Interictal psychopathology in patients with ictal fear: a quantitative investigation. Neurology, 32, 7–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hermann, B. P. & Whitman, S. (1986) Psychopathology in epilepsy: a multiaetiological model. In Psychopathology and Epilepsy: Social Dimensions (eds Whitman, S. & Hermann, B. P.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Herzberg, J. L. (1987) No fixed abode. A comparison of men and women admitted to an East London psychiatric hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 621–627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, D. & Ajmone Marsan, C. (1977) Clinical features and ictal patterns in epileptic patients with EEG temporal lobe foci. Annals of Neurology, 2, 138–147.Google Scholar
Kligman, D. & Goldberg, D. A. (1975) Temporal lobe epilepsy and aggression. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 160, 324–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewis, D. O., Pincus, J. H., Shanok, S. S. & Glaser, G. H. (1982) Psychomotor epilepsy and violence in a group of incarcerated adolescent boys. American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 882–887.Google Scholar
Lindsay, J., Ounstead, C. & Richards, P. (1979) Long-term outcome in children with temporal lobe seizures. (3) Psychiatric aspects in childhood and adult life. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 21, 630–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lishman, W. A. (1978) Organic Psychiatry. London: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Nie, N. H., Hull, C. H., Jenkins, J. G., Steinbrenner, K. & Brent, D. H. (1973) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (2nd edn). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Rodin, E. A. (1973) Psychomotor epilepsy and aggressive behaviour. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 210–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, J. R. & Hermann, B. (1981) Temporal lobe epilepsy, psychopathology and violence: the state of the evidence. Neurology, 31, 1127–1132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Treiman, D. & Delgado-Escueta, A. (1983) Violence and epilepsy: a critical review. In Recent Advances in Epilepsy l (eds Pedley, T. & Meldrum, B.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Waxman, S. G. & Geschwind, N. (1975) The interictal behaviour syndrome of temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 1580–1586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitman, S., Colman, T., Borg, B., King, L. & Desai, B. (1980) Epidemiological insights into the socioeconomic correlates of epilepsy. A Multidisciplinary Handbook of Epilepsy (ed. Hermann, B. P.), pp. 243–271. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Whitman, S., Coonley-Hoganson, R. & Desai, B. (1984) Comparative head trauma experiences in two socioeconomically different Chicago-area communities: a population study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 119, 570–580.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wieser, H. G. (1983) Depth recorded limbic seizures and psychopathology. Neuroscience and Behavioural Reviews, 7, 427–440.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1967) Manual of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries, and Causes of Death, 1965 revision (8th edn) (ICD-8). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.