Definition
A distinct syndrome of behavior described initially by Stephen Waxman and Norman Geschwind that occurs interictally (i.e., between seizure events) in some patients with complex partial seizures with involvement of the temporal lobe (usually associated the most with individuals with left temporal lobe epilepsy). These changes have been described to include alterations in sexual behavior (usually hyposexuality or decreased interest in sexual behavior), increased religiosity (hyper-religiosity and/or hyper-morality), increased verbal output, hypergraphia, circumstantial thinking, stickiness or viscosity in thinking and social interactions, and deepened emotionality.
Current Knowledge
Although it is widely known that psychiatric comorbidity among individuals with epilepsy is high compared with the general population, the existence of a specific behavior syndrome...
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References and Readings
Bear, D. M., & Fedio, P. (1977). Quantitative analysis of interictal behavior in temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of Neurology, 34, 454–467.
Blumer, D. (1999). Evidence supporting the temporal lobe epilepsy personality syndrome. Neurology, 53(Suppl. 2), S9–S12.
Devinsky, O., & Najjar, S. (1999). Evidence against the existence of a temporal lobe epilepsy personality syndrome. Neurology, 53(Suppl. 2), S13–S25.
Waxman, S. G., & Geschwind, N. (1975). The interictal behavior syndrome of temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32(12), 1580–1586.
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Weber-Mihaila, C.J. (2011). Interictal Behavior Syndrome. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1046
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1046
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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