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Psychomotor Seizures

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Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development

Synonyms

Complex partial seizure; Temporal lobe seizure

Definition

A psychomotor seizure is a form of epilepsy that is typically limited to the temporal lobe of the brain and results in impairment of responsiveness and awareness to ones surroundings. Patients may act out in a variety of ways while experiencing the seizure but have not recall of it.

Description

Psychomotor seizure is an older term used to describe a complex partial seizure which is seen in its most common forms as either psychomotor or temporal lobe epilepsy. Psychomotor seizures are more complex than simple partial seizures because an alteration of awareness typically accompanies the experience of a seizure. In fact, about half of all people who experience a psychomotor seizure also experience a concomitant aura [3].

In many circumstances the aura that a person experiences is directly related to the origination of the seizure. In other words, if a person has a visual aura or manifestation (e.g., perceiving objects as...

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References

  1. Bailet, L., & Turk, W. R. (2000). The impact of childhood epilepsy on neurocognitive and behavioral performance: A prospective longitudinal study. Epilepsia, 41(4), 426–431.

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  2. Caplan, R., Arbelle, S., & Magharious, W. (1998). Pschopathology in pediatric complex partial and generalized epilepsy. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 40, 805–811.

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  3. Cascino, G. D. (1992). Complex partial seizures: Clinical features and differential diagnosis. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 152, 373–382.

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  4. Dunn, D., Austin, J., & Huster, G. (1999). Behavior problems in children with new onset epilepsy. Journal of American Academy of Adolescent Psychiatry, 38, 1132–1138.

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  5. Ettinger, A. B., Weisbrot, D. M., & Nolan, E. E. (1998). Symptoms of depression and anxiety in pediatric epilepsy patients. Epilepsia, 39, 595–599.

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Holcomb, M.J., Dean, R.S. (2011). Psychomotor Seizures. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2307

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2307

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9

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