PANIC DISORDER AND COMPLEX PARTIAL SEIZURES - A TRULY COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP

Panic disorder (PD) is a fairly common anxiety disorder. According to the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (EGA) study, PD affects around 2% of the adult population.(1) Furthermore, 7%-9% of the adult population ha ve recurrent attacks without meeting the frequency criterion, and 1%-1 .5% have had at least one attack in the previous 6 months.(2) Complex partial seizures (CPS) are the most common form of seizures. Both enti ties may share a complex relationship as evidenced by overlapping symp toms, comorbidity, and possible underlying limbic dysfunction.(3-6) PD may be misdiagnosed as CPS and vice versa. Both entities can also coe xist with each other.(7) This article illustrates this clinical diffic ulty with three scenarios and their corresponding original vignettes.