EPILEPSY AND PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT - A SELECTIVE REVIEW

It has become increasingly acknowledged that the social and psychologi cal consequences of leaving epilepsy may be more debilitating than the seizures themselves. Recently these psychosocial aspects of epilepsy have become the emphasis of much research, and different models for un derstanding psychosocial consequences have become evident. In this art icle recent research has been reviewed and has been classified as belo nging either to a medical model or a sociological model of understandi ng these psychosocial aspects of epilepsy. Both models have been found to assist in understanding psychosocial aspects of epilepsy, with the 'newer' sociological approach acting as a challenge to the hegemony o f the older, more traditional medical understanding.