what do you guys think about there being an "epileptic personality"??

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On a lighter note: this could have been fun as a poll...

Emotionality -- (Sob) Why do you say that?
Mania -- You BET!
Depression -- Isn't EVERYONE? ;-)
Guilt -- NEVER
Humorlessness -- I take that as an insult. :-(
Altered sexual interest -- Hmmmm. Where were they going with this one?
Aggression -- Assertive, yes. Aggressive, no.
Anger and hostility -- Peace, man. Joy to the world.
Hypergraphia (excessive writing) Well, I am a professional writer, does that count?
Religiosity -- Nope, not me. But I married a guy from 3 generations of Presbyterian ministers....
Philosophical interest -- I minored in Philosophy in college.
Sense of personal destiny -- You are what you make of yourself.
Hypermoralism -- I was a slut in college!
Dependency -- How about co-dependency?
Paranoia -- Not a chance.
Obsessionalism -- I used to be when I was younger. Now I've mellowed out.
Circumstantiality -- Next we'll be quoting existentialism!
Viscosity -- How pompous! I go with the flow!

So there. (LOL!)

Let's do a poll on how many HATE polls!! :bigmouth::bigsmile: :pfft:
 
So was Napoleon

but we'll keep that one quiet. LOL

So do NFL players Samari Rolle and Alan Faneca
 
I believe that most people experience those during their postictal phase. Which I feel is seperate from a person's honest personality. But if you are having severe uncontrolled seizures, how many people are willing to consider that isn't you that they are interacting with.

My personality while my seizures are ongoing is horrific to say the least. And it doesn't have anything in common with who I am at other times.
 
lol yeah, plus there isn't much evidence that supports it anyways as i read more articles on the topic! it's cool to hear your opinions..
guess i was just kiiiiinda hoping maybe there was some explanation for my weird personality & that i wasn't alone haha! but it's starting to look like i am just a bit weird.. ehh oh well :rock:

we're all being brainwashed to think we're weird unless we buy whatever we see advertised!

:ponder:
 
Seeking more information:

I believe in the existence of this condition; my stepson (who does not have an epilepsy diagnosis) has all of the tell-tale signs. His personality issues are not minor; they prevent him from living a normal life. What is being described is not a mere set of personality traits, but a serious mental disorder associated with an abnormal limbic system.

I don’t think Geschwind ever intended that his “interictal behavior syndrome” be generalized to include the entire epileptic population. He described a personality condition associated with a specific variety of epilepsy.

Also, the description “affective viscosity” is not accurate. From what I’ve read—and personally witnessed—the conditions of affective disturbance and interpersonal viscosity are separate symptoms.

The affective disturbance describes sudden emotional swings disproportionate to their apparent cause—ranging from rage to panic to euphoria. What does this symptom look like? My stepson has a tendency to become very hostile over perceived, self-referential offenses. For example: If you claim to dislike carrot cake, and he likes carrot cake, my son might become suddenly hostile. He might interpret a disapproval of carrot cake, by anyone, as a direct attack against his self-identity. This sudden aggression is often extreme, and often escalates into violence and pure rage. Sometimes he will display simultaneous symptoms of panic attack, acute rage, and euphoria—clenched fists and delirious laughing.

Viscosity is a separate aspect of the condition. Interpersonal viscosity describes “stickiness” during conversations, the inability to shift from one conversational topic/affective mode to another. It is a resistance to the natural flow of conversation.

They've labeled my stepson’s condition an organic affective disorder, secondary to cerebral dysrhythmia (subclinical seizures?) with emerging borderline and histrionic personality traits. I think my son has subclinical seizures that, until trileptal, were seriously impacting his personality. His compulsive writing; his intense religious, sexual and violent perseverations; and the underlying limbic activity mirror Normal Geschwind's “interictal behavior syndrome” verbaitum and are the reason I joined this forum.

I’m looking for more information on the condition, if it's out there.
 
This is actually an interesting post... I've seen a lot of this stuff in myself. However, as someone else mentioned, the power of suggestion is huge. I think the only ones I could say that I haven't really experienced are a sense of destiny and mania. But there do seem to be a lot of commonalities between bipolar disorder and epilepsy, and bipolar disorder is a mood disorder, sooo... There could be a link between these different personality traits and epilepsy. And yes, I like to write way too much (hence my super long comments on everything and my super long blog posts). Though some of these things were more common when I was younger than now, and I wasn't diagnosed with epilepsy until April of this year, so who knows? It would be an interesting study :)
 
Bi-polar disorder and epilepsy seem to go hand in hand. Treatments are often sometimes the same. I know i've been more manic and depressed at times but that could have also been situation based. I do know my brain is not on the same page as it was before the seizures and meds. Something is missing, just can't seem to put my finger on it.
 
Bi-polar disorder and epilepsy seem to go hand in hand. Treatments are often sometimes the same. I know i've been more manic and depressed at times but that could have also been situation based. I do know my brain is not on the same page as it was before the seizures and meds. Something is missing, just can't seem to put my finger on it.

ditto that - I feel the same - like some sort of 'entity' enveloping everything now almost over the past 2 years
I have gone over it once with a therapist, who sat there and said things like "I see..." "go on..." "yes..." which I found not helpful. Everything from tinnitus to eye floaters to the repetition of events to the way people look at me to the third eye to psychic events... good bad ugly
 
i don't becessarily believe that cause people can get E at all different points in thier lives.so how can those behaviors be related.i had a lot of those before i had this disease.
 
ditto that - I feel the same - like some sort of 'entity' enveloping everything now almost over the past 2 years
I have gone over it once with a therapist, who sat there and said things like "I see..." "go on..." "yes..." which I found not helpful. Everything from tinnitus to eye floaters to the repetition of events to the way people look at me to the third eye to psychic events... good bad ugly

Yep, the things I was told in therapy were just positive reinforcement that I learned as a kid. I got nothing out of it, at that time. Maybe now it would be different. But I still have a very very hard time explain an aura, or just the way my brain ticks.

Plus I know plenty of people that have a "epileptic" personality and never had a seizure in their life. I really think it comes down to the person, and the situation. But that is just my opinion.

On a lighter note, time for the dancing banana :banana:
 
personally:

Emotionality
yes

Mania
not really - sometimes

Depression
yes

Guilt
yes

Humorlessness
hmm

Altered sexual interest
?

Aggression
no

Anger and hostility
anger yes

Hypergraphia (excessive writing)
does typing on iphone count? interaction with media? yes

Religiosity
yes

Philosophical interest
yes

Sense of personal destiny
yes

Hypermoralism
yes

Dependency
on st.arbux italian roast

Paranoia
no

Obsessionalism
obsessive thinking

Circumstantiality
absolutely - all my life

Viscosity
not really - the opposite
 
personally:

Dependency
on st.arbux italian roast
\

:clap: Now that's my kind of dependency! I was freaking out the other day because I couldn't get to the store to buy more coffee before I ran out on Monday morning. I felt like a serious drug addict. Except that coffee is easy to get, I just couldn't drive to the store :roflmao:
 
i don't becessarily believe that cause people can get E at all different points in thier lives.so how can those behaviors be related.i had a lot of those before i had this disease.

I also had a lot of those traits before being diagnosed. I was never really your "normal" person. Apparently I talked about death as a three year old and I have always been prone to depression. I wrote constantly even as a child (you should check out my journals that I've been keeping for the past 20 years... and I'm only 27 - as of tomorrow), I played the flute obsessively (now transferred into running), and I've always just generally been a bit odd, though capable of functioning in society. My mom always just called me a temperamental musician :ponder: I'm not so temperamental now as an adult, more just kinda depressed frequently. Usually for days at a time then it goes away. I am lucky I actually have a really good therapist who gives good feedback and suggestions. And sadly she thinks this is something I'll be dealing with probably for quite a few years (the random depression), based on my history.

Anyway, I think maybe there's just something different in our brains to begin with, even if the epilepsy wasn't always there. Maybe a lot of people with epilepsy are just prone to different types of behaviors because of the differences in brain structure/chemicals? Of course, anyone can be prone to different behaviors - even those without epilepsy. But a lot of issues seem to go along with other issues . For example, there is the bipolar/epilepsy link (my dad is bipolar), or people with OCD often have other issues, people with eating disorders also tend to have anxiety/depression issues... etc. Most of these issues (for example, prone to anxiety) are related to chemical imbalances that get "tweaked" somehow by some circumstance, and turn into full-blown disorders. I can't remember all the links between different disorders, but there are a lot of co-morbid disorders out there, and someone with an underlying chemical imbalance in their brain can have a few less than ideal situations that lead to negative behavioral manifestations, so it makes sense to me that someone with epilepsy (which takes place in the brain) might be prone to other issues. Add in the stress of diagnosis and the medications that mess with brain chemicals, and you're just asking for other types of behavioral issues. Aaannnd the psychology major in me is talking now. Okay, done with my fancy talk now :)
 
Oh and speaking of guilt... as a seven year old I felt so guilty about everything bad I'd done, I went and confessed everything to my mom that I'd done since I was like three... (like breaking all the glass dishes in the house and blaming it on my little sister who couldn't really talk well yet... Apparently I was angry after my parents' divorce, lol). I've always been this way... Most seven year olds wouldn't do this.
 
Most of these issues (for example, prone to anxiety) are related to chemical imbalances that get "tweaked" somehow by some circumstance, and turn into full-blown disorders.
I think this is very true. Neurons that "fire together, wire together". In epilepsy, that means that the more seizures you have, the more seizures you're likely to have. The abnormal path becomes the default, the feedback loop gets established. I think the same thing can be true with other kinds of brain imbalances and patterns of thinking/behaving -- they may start small, but with circumstance and time may become more ingrained and more problematic. Some day I hope neurofeedback training (which works to disrupt and re-route patterns) will become the treatment of choice for such disorders. It makes much more sense (to me) to try and rewire the brain to function healthily, rather than to merely suppress the unhealthy stuff (the way meds do).
 
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