Psychomotor epilepsy and psychosis. I. Physical aspects.

In a controlled investigation the clinical findings in 96 patients with paranoid/hallucinatory psychosis and partial epileptic seizures with complex symptoms, were compared with the findings in 96 control patients with the same type of epilepsy without psychosis of median 24 years' duration. The median age at onset of psychosis was 34 years, after epilepsy of median 21 years' duration. The seizure frequency of complex, partial seizures was significantly lower in the psychotic group, while the frequency of generalized seizures did not differ. A significant preponderance in the psychotic group of left-handed patients, etiological factors and neurological signs reflecting organic damage, and seizures of automatic behaviour indicates that epileptic psychoses are caused by structural lesions affecting the deep parts of the temporal lobe.