Psychiatric aspects of temporal lobe epilepsy.

This study is an attempt to investigate cases of temporal lobe epilepsy, the starting point being a large number of psychiatric patients. The data presented in this study suggest that a certain number of schizophrenic-like psychoses are produced by temporal seizural activity. There is some evidence that if there is a centrencephalic seizure at the beginning of such a psychotic state, the patient's behavior will have confusional characteristics (perhaps a postictal centrencephalic state). Some findings suggest that the side localization of the temporal lobe focus affects the feature of the psychotic state. None of the nine patients with periodic psychoses had schizoid or paranoid premorbid personality. As to the interictal behavioral disorders of epileptics, we have noticed that two patients with hysteroepilepsy and two with compensation neurosis had dominant temporal lobe focus. Of 10 cases with behavior disorders, all had grand mal or petit mal epilepsy, and none had a temporal lobe focus. Although this study is not based on sufficient data, it may provide working hypotheses for further research.