J. Kuyk et al., THE CASE FOR A DISSOCIATIVE INTERPRETATION OF PSEUDOEPILEPTIC SEIZURES, The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 184(8), 1996, pp. 468-474
A pseudoepileptic seizure (PES) can be considered as a paroxysmal beha
vior pattern that mimics epilepsy and is initiated by psychological me
chanisms. There is no evidence that the symptomatology of PES forms a
specific syndrome. The paper presents evidence for the explanatory val
ue of the concept of dissociation in at least a subgroup of PES. Chara
cteristics of patients with PES and possible factors in the etiology o
f PES are reviewed. Based on the dissociation hypothesis, some suggest
ions are offered to explain the relatively high comorbidity of PES and
epilepsy.