The "startle disease" in brain-damaged patients: report of a case.

It is reported about one case of so-called startle disease in brain-damaged patients in a 7 year-old girl. Furthermore, two related, non-epileptic paroxysmal startle syndromes, the "essential startle disease" and the "hereditary startle syndrome" are described and contrasted with "epileptic seizures induced by unexpected sensory stimuli" or "startle epilepsy". The overt participation of conditioning factors in the present case is understood as a hint at a possible therapeutic access.