Electroencephalographic Investigations in Pseudoschizophrenia Epileptoides

Abstract

The analysis of electroencephalographic findings in 30 patients treated of Pseudoschizophrenia epileptoides at the Neuropsychiatric Clinic in Sarajevo has given the following results:

1. In 80% of patients the EEG was abnormal: in 73% slow frequencies were found and in 47% phenomena of irritation. In all but two patients’ anomalies were localized only, or chiefly in temporal regions; in one third of the patients the slowing of the EEG was diffuse.

2. Statistically significant differences in the EEG were found between patients with acute and subacute course of the psychosis, a diffuse showing in the EEG being characteristic of the latter group. A detailed analysis of patients with the subacute course of the disease suggested organic lesions of the brain, however, these could not be proved in each patient in this group.

3. The electroencephalographic findings in patients with the acute course of the psychosis depended on whether the patients was psychotic or not at the time of recording. The incidence of irritation phenomena, characteristic of epilepsy, was significantly higher in the group of patients who were not psychotic at the time of recording than in the group of psychotic patients. This result is in accordance with the findings of other authors who examined the psychotic episodes in epileptics clinically and electroencephalographically and who termed the above described phenomenon as ”forced normalization”.