Abstract
The evaluation and treatment of patients with epilepsy is not limited to the type of epilepsy, but it must incorporate the common comorbid neurologic, psychiatric, and medical disorders, as the latter can bare an impact on the course and response to treatment of the seizure disorder and vice versa. In this article we review the bidirectional relations among epilepsy and two of its most common comorbidities, mood disorders and migraine and examine the implications of these relations on the selection of therapies of these three disorders and their response to treatment. We also review the most salient common pathogenic mechanisms that may explain such relations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alper KR, Schwartz KA, Kolts RL, Khan A (2007) Seizure incidence in psychopharmacological clinical trials: an analysis of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) summary basis of approval reports. Biol Psychiatry 62:345–354
Altalib H, Kanner AM (2013) Should antidepressant drugs of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor family be tested as antiepileptic drugs? Epilepsy Behav 26(3):261–265
Bagnato F, Good J (2016) The use of antiepileptics in migraine prophylaxis. Headache 56(3):603–615
Boer K, Jansen F, Nellist M et al (2008) Inflammatory processes in cortical tubers, and subependymal giant cell tumors of tuberous sclerosis complex. Epilepsy Res 78:7–21
Bremner JD, Narayan M, Anderson ER, Staib LH, Miller HL, Charney DS (2000) Hippocampal volume reduction in major depression. Am J Psychiatry 157:115–118
Brent DA, Crumrine PK, Varma RR, Allan M, Allman C (1987) Phenobarbital treatment and major depressive disorder in children with epilepsy. Pediatrics 80(6):909–917
Breslau N, Davis GC, Andreski P (1991) Migraine, psychiatric disorders, and suicide attempts: an epidemiologic study of young adults. J Psychiatry Res 37(1):11–23
Breslau N, Lipton RB, Stewart WF et al (2003) Comorbidity of migraine and depression: investigating potential etiology and prognosis. Neurology 60(8):1308–1312
Brietzke E, Moreira CL, Duarte SV, Nery FG, Kapczinski F, Miranda Scippa Â, Lafer B (2012) Impact of comorbid migraine on the clinical course of bipolar disorder. Compr Psychiatry 53(6):809–812
Chen SD, Wang YL, Liang SF, Shaw FZ (2016) Rapid amygdala kindling causes motor seizure and comorbidity of anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in rats. Front Behav Neurosci 10:129
Cotter DR, Pariante CM, Everall IP (2001) Glial cell abnormalities in major psychiatric disorders: the evidence and implications. Brain Res Bull 55:585–595
Cotter D, Mackay D, Chana G, Beasley C, Landau S, Everall IP (2002) Reduced neuronal size and glial cell density in area 9 of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in subjects with major depressive disorder. Cereb Cortex 12:386–394
D’Andrea G, Welch K, Riddle J et al (1989) Platelet serotonin metabolism and ultrastructure in migraine. Arch Neurol 46:1187–1189
Devinsky O, Barr WB, Vickrey BG et al (2005) Changes in depression and anxiety after resective surgery for epilepsy. Neurology 65(11):1744–1942
Diamond S, Bigal ME, Silberstein S, Loder E, Reed M, Lipton RB (2007) Patterns of diagnosis and acute and preventive treatment for migraine in the United States: results from the American migraine prevalence and prevention study. Headache 47(3):355–363
El Yacoubi M, Bouali S, Popa D et al (2003) Behavioral, neurochemical, and electrophysiological characterization of a genetic mouse model of depression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 100:6227–6232
Fasmer OB (2001) The prevalence of migraine in patients with bipolar and unipolar affective disorders. Cephalalgia 21(9):894–899
Favale E, Rubino V, Mainardi P, Lunardi G, Albano C (1995) Anticonvulsant effect of fluoxetine in humans. Neurology 45:1926–1927
Favale E, Audenino D, Cocito L, Albano C (2003) The anticonvulsant effect of citalopram as an indirect evidence of serotonergic impairment in human epileptogenesis. Seizure 12:316–318
Finocchi C, Villani V, Casucci G (2010) Therapeutic strategies in migraine patients with mood and anxiety disorders: clinical evidence. Neurol Sci 31(Suppl 1):S95–S98
Gaitatzis A, Carroll K, Majeed A et al (2004) The epidemiology of the comorbidity of epilepsy in the general population. Epilepsia 45:1613–1622
Gaitatzis A, Sisodiya SM, Sander JW (2012) The somatic comorbidity of epilepsy: a weighty but often unrecognized burden. Epilepsia 53:1282–1293
Guidetti V, Galli F (2002) Psychiatric comorbidity in chronic daily headache: pathophysiology, etiology, and diagnosis. Curr Pain Headache Rep 6(6):492–497
Hamel E (2007) Serotonin and migraine: biology and clinical implications. Cephalalgia 27:1293–1300
Harden CL, Pennell PB, Koppel BS et al (2009) Practice parameter update: management issues for women with epilepsy – focus on pregnancy (an evidence-based review): vitamin K, folic acid, blood levels, and breastfeeding: report of the quality standards subcommittee and therapeutics and technology assessment Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and American Epilepsy Society. Neurology 73(2):142–149
Harnod T, Wang YC, Kao CH (2015) High risk of developing subsequent epilepsy in young adults with migraine: a nationwide population-based cohort study in Taiwan. QJM 108:449–455
Hashimoto K, Sawa A, Iyo M (2007) Increased levels of glutamate in brains of patients with mood disorders. Biol Psychiatry 25:1310–1316
Hasler G, van der Veen JW, Tumonis T, Meyers N, Shen J, Drevets WC (2007) Reduced prefrontal glutamate/glutamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid levels in major depression determined using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Arch Gen Psychiatry 64:193–200
Haut SR, Bigal ME, Lipton RB (2006) Chronic disorders with episodic manifestations: focus on epilepsy and migraine. Lancet Neurol 5:148–157
Hernandez EJ, Williams PA, Dudek FE (2002) Effects of fluoxetine and TFMPP on spontaneous seizures in rats with pilocarpine-induced epilepsy. Epilepsia 43:1337–1345
Hesdorffer DC, LúdvÃgsson P, Hauser WA et al (2007) Co-occurrence of major depression or suicide attempt with migraine with aura and risk for unprovoked seizure. Epilepsy Res 75:220–223
Hesdorffer DC, Ishihara L, Mynepalli L, Webb DJ, Weil J, Hauser WA (2012) Epilepsy, suicidality, and psychiatric disorders: a bidirectional association. Ann Neurol 72:184–191
Hitiris N, Mohanraj R, Norrie J et al (2007) Predictors of pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Epilepsy Res 75:192–196
Jaako K, Aonurm-Helm A, Kalda A et al (2011) Repeated citalopram administration counteracts kainic acid-induced spreading of PSA-NCAM-immunoreactive cells and loss of reelin in the adult mouse hippocampus. Eur J Pharmacol 666:61–71
Jette N, Patten S, Williams J et al (2008) Comorbidity of migraine and psychiatric disorders--a national population-based study. Headache 48(4):501–516
Jones NC, Lee HE, Yang M et al (2013) Repeatedly stressed rats have enhanced vulnerability to amygdala kindling epileptogenesis. Psychoneuroendocrinology 38:263–270
Josephsson CB, Lowerison M, Vallerand I, Sajobi TT, Patten S, Jette N, Wiebe S (2017) Association of depression and treated depression with epilepsy and seizure outcomes: a multicohort analysis. JAMA Neurol 74:533–539
Josephsson CB, Engbers JDT, Jette N (2019) Prediction tools for psychiatric adverse effects after levetiracetam prescription. JAMA Neurol 76(4):440–446
Kanner AM (2012a) Can neurobiologic pathogenic mechanisms of depression facilitate the development of seizure disorders? Lancet Neurol 11:1093–1102
Kanner AM (2012b) Depression in neurologic disorders: why should neurologists care. In: Kanner AM (ed) Depression in neurologic disorders: diagnosis and management. Willey-Blackwell, New York, pp 3–9
Kanner AM (2016) Management of psychiatric and neurological comorbidities in epilepsy. Nat Rev Neurol 12:106–116
Kanner AM, Wuu J, Faught E, Tatum WO, Fix A, French JA, PADS Investigators (2003) A past psychiatric history may be a risk factor for topiramate-related psychiatric and cognitive adverse events. Epilepsy Behav 4(5):548–552
Kanner AM, Mazarati A, Koepp M (2014) Biomarkers of epileptogenesis: psychiatric comorbidities (?). Neurotherapeutics 11:358–372
Kanner AM, Patten A, Ettinger AB, Helmstaedter C, Meador KJ, Malhotra M (2021) Does a psychiatric history play a role in the development of psychiatric adverse events of perampanel… and to placebo? Epilepsy Behav 125:108380
Kingston WS, Schwedt TJ (2017) The relationship between headaches with epileptic and non-epileptic seizures: a narrative review. Curr Pain Headache Rep 21:17
Klufas A, Thompson D (2001) Topiramate-induced depression. Am J Psychiatry 158:1736–1736
Koch-Stoecker S (2002) Psychiatric effects of surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy. In: Trimble M, Schmitz B (eds) The neuropsychiatry of epilepsy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 266–282
Koch-Stoecker SC, Bien CG, Schulz R, May TW (2017 Jun) Psychiatric lifetime diagnoses are associated with a reduced chance of seizure freedom after temporal lobe surgery. Epilepsia 58(6):983–993
Kumar G, Jones NC, Morris MJ, Rees S, O'Brien TJ, Salzberg MR (2011) Early life stress enhancement of limbic epileptogenesis in adult rats: mechanistic insights. PLoS One 6:e24033
Kumar U, Medel-Matus JS, Redwine HM et al (2016) Effects of selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors on depressive- and impulsive-like behaviors and on monoamine transmission in experimental temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsia 57:506–515
Lai MC, Holmes GL, Lee KH et al (2006) Effect of neonatal isolation on outcome following neonatal seizures in rats--the role of corticosterone. Epilepsy Res 68:123–136
Lidberg L, Belfrage H, Bertilsson L et al (2000) Suicide attempts and impulse control disorder are related to low cerebrospinal fluid 5-HIAA in mentally disordered violent offenders. Acta Psychiatr Scand 101:395–402
Low NC, Du Fort GG, Cervantes P (2003) Prevalence, clinical correlates, and treatment of migraine in bipolar disorder. Headache 43(9):940–949
Ludvigsson P, Hesdorffer D, Olafsson E et al (2006) Migraine with aura is a risk factor for unprovoked seizures in children. Ann Neurol 59:210–213
Maes M (1999) Major depression and activation of the inflammatory response system. Adv Exp Med Biol 461:25–45
Martin PR, Aiello R, Gilson K, Meadows G, Milgrom J, Reece J (2015) Cognitive behavior therapy for comorbid migraine and/or tension-type headache and major depressive disorder: an exploratory randomized controlled trial. Behav Res Ther 73:8–18
Mazarati A, Shin D, Auvin S et al (2007) Kindling epileptogenesis in immature rats leads to persistent depressive behavior. Epilepsy Behav 10:377–383
Mazarati A, Siddarth P, Baldwin RA et al (2008) Depression after status epilepticus: behavioural and biochemical deficits and effects of fluoxetine. Brain 131:2071–2083
Mazarati AM, Shin D, Kwon YS et al (2009) Elevated plasma corticosterone level and depressive behavior in experimental temporal lobe epilepsy. Neurobiol Dis 34:457–461
Medel-Matus JS, Shin D, Sankar R et al (2017) Kindling epileptogenesis and panic-like behavior: their bidirectional connection and contribution to epilepsy-associated depression. Epilepsy Behav 77:33–38
Modabbernia A, Taslimi S, Brietzke E, Ashrafi M (2013) Cytokine alterations in bipolar disorder: a meta-analysis of 30 studies. Biol Psychiatry 74:15–25
Mula M, Trimble MR, Lhatoo SD, Sander JW (2003) Topiramate and psychiatric adverse events in patients with epilepsy. Epilepsia 44(5):659–663
Öngür D, Drevets WC, Price JL (1998) Glial reduction in the subgenual prefrontal cortex in mood disorders. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:13290–13295
Ottman R, Lipton RB (1994) Comorbidity of migraine and epilepsy. Neurology 44:2105–2110
Papetti L, Nicitta F, Parisi P, Spalice A, Villa MP, Kasteileijn-Nolst Trenite DGA (2013) Headache and epilepsy: how are they connected? Epilepsy Behav 26:386–393
Peroutka SJ, Price SC, Wilhoit TL et al (1998) Comorbid migraine with aura, anxiety, and depression is associated with dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) NcoI alleles. Mol Med 4:14–21
Petrovski S, Szoeke CEI, Jones NC, Salzberg MR, Sheffield LJ, Huggins RM, O’Brien TJ (2010) Neuropsychiatric symptomatology predicts seizure recurrence in newly treated patients. Neurology 75:1015–1021
Phabphal K, Udomratn P (2010) Topiramate-induced depression in cases using topiramate for migraine prophylaxis. Cephalalgia 30(6):747–749
Rajkowska G, Miguel-Hidalgo JJ, Wei J (1999) Morphometric evidence for neuronal and glial prefrontal cell pathology in major depression. Biol Psychiatry 45:1085–1098
Ribot R, Ouyang B, Kanner AM (2017) The impact of antidepressants on seizure frequency and depressive and anxiety disorders of patients with epilepsy: Is it worth investigating? Epilepsy Behav 70:5–9
Rogawski MA (2012) Migraine and epilepsy – shared mechanisms within the family of episodic disorders. In: Jasper’s basic mechanisms of the epilepsies, 4th edn. National Center for Biotechnology Information (US), Bethesda
Saaman Z, Farmer A, Craddock N et al (2009) Migraine in recurrent depression: case-control study. Br J Psychiatry 194(4):350–354
Salgado PC, Yasuda CL, Cendes F (2010) Neuroimaging changes in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy are magnified in the presence of depression. Epilepsy Behav 19:422–427
Sanacora G, Mason GF, Rothman et al (1999) Reduced cortical gamma-aminobutyric acid levels in depressed patients determined by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Arch Gen Psychiatry 56:1043–1047
Sanacora G, Gueorguieva R, Epperson et al (2004) Subtype-specific alterations of gammaaminobutyric acid and glutamate in patients with major depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry 61:705–713
Schur EA, Noonan C, Buchwald D et al (2009) A twin study of depression and migraine: evidence for a shared genetic vulnerability. Headache 49:1493–1502
Sheline Y, Wang PW, Gado MH (1996) Hippocampal atrophy in recurrent major depression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93:3908–3913
Sheline YI, Gado MH, Kraemer HC (2003) Untreated depression and hippocampal volume loss. Am J Psychiatry 160:1516–1518
Silberstein SD, Holland S, Freitag F, Dodick DW, Argoff C (2012) Evidence-based guideline update: pharmacologic treatment for episodic migraine prevention in adults. Neurology 78:1337–1345
Specchio LM, Iudice A, Specchio N, La Neve A, Spinelli A, Galli R, Rocchi R, Ulivelli M, de Tommaso M, Pizzanelli C, Murri L (2004) Citalopram as treatment of depression in patients with epilepsy. Clin Neuropharmacol 27:133–136
Stam AH, de Vries B, Janssens AC et al (2010) Shared genetic factors in migraine and depression: evidence from a genetic isolate. Neurology 74:288–294
Tellez-Zenteno JF, Matijevic S, Wiebe S (2005) Somatic comorbidity of epilepsy in the general population in Canada. Epilepsia 46:1955–1962
Tellez-Zenteno JF, Patten SB, Jetté N, Williams J, Wiebe S (2007) Psychiatric comorbidity in epilepsy: a population-based analysis. Epilepsia 48:2336–2344
Thurman DJ, Beghi E, Begley CE et al (2011) The ILAE commission on EpidemiologyStandards for epidemiologic studies and surveillance of epilepsy. Epilepsia 52(suppl 7):2–26
Toczek MT, Carson RE, Lang L (2003) PET imaging of 5-HT1A receptor binding in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Neurology 60:749–756
Velioglu SK, Boz C, Ozmenoglu M (2005) The impact of migraine on epilepsy: a prospective prognosis study. Cephalalgia 25:528–535
Vermoesen K, Massie A, Smolders I et al (2012) The antidepressants citalopram and reboxetine reduce seizure frequency in rats with chronic epilepsy. Epilepsia 53:870–878
Vezzani A, Conti M, De Luigi A et al (1999) Interleukin-1beta immunoreactivity and microglia are enhanced in the rat hippocampus by focal kainate application: functional evidence for enhancement of electrographic seizures. J Neurosci 19:5054–5065
Vezzani A, Balosso S, Ravizza T (2008) The role of cytokines in the pathophysiology of epilepsy. Brain Behav Immun 22:797–803
Vieira DSS, Naffah-Mazacoratti MG, Zukerman E, Senne Soares CA, Alonso EO, Faulhaber MHW et al (2006) Cerebrospinal fluid GABA levels in chronic migraine with and without depression. Brain Res 1090:197–201
Wada Y, Shiraishi J, Nakamura M et al (1995) Prolonged but not acute fluoxetine administration produces its inhibitory effect on hippocampal seizures in rats. Psychopharmacology 118:305–309
Wang SJ, Juang KD, Fuh JL et al (2007) Psychiatric comorbidity and suicide risk in adolescents with chronic daily headache. Neurology 68:1468–1473
Wrench J, Wilson SJ, Bladin PF (2004) Mood disturbance before and after seizure surgery: a comparison of temporal and extratemporal resections. Epilepsia 45:534–543
Yorns WR, Hardison HH (2013) Mitochondrial dysfunction in migraine. Semin Pediatr Neurol 20:188–193
Zarcone D, Corbetta S (2017) Shared mechanisms of epilepsy, migraine and affective disorders. Neurol Sci 38(Suppl 1):73–76
Zhang M, Liu Y, Zhao M, Tang W, Wang X, Dong Z, Yu S (2017) Depression and anxiety behaviour in a rat model of chronic migraine. J Headache Pain 18(1):27
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kanner, A.M. (2021). Bidirectional Relations Among Depression, Migraine, and Epilepsy: Do They Have an Impact on Their Response to Treatment?. In: Jones, N.C., Kanner, A.M. (eds) Psychiatric and Behavioral Aspects of Epilepsy . Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 55. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2021_286
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2021_286
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-03222-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-03235-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)