[Research] The Correlation between Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Dissociative Identity Disorder

[DLThrasher]

Thanks so much. I will continue to watch this forum to gain as much info as I can. I send good energy and love to everyone who must deal with this directly and as support.

 

[Cinnabar]

Sending the good energy and love back to you. Thank you for your questions and keep asking as the thoughts come to you. Cinnabar

 

[occb]

My point was that the personality as we know it resides in both the temporal lobes and the frontal lobes since injuries or insults to either can cause changes in personality. I thought you were the one implying that personality resides in the frontal lobes alone.

For years the dogmatic approach toward the brain has been that each part has a descreet function and that was that, and that the frontal lobes contain personality. With the things you and Cinnabar pointed out, and the fact that in DID when alters emerge there is a lot of temporal lobe activity -- how can they say that anymore? So how do the two work together to manage alters, and what changes to the brain does integration create? That was all I was asking in that particular post where I wrote that.

My interest is really piqued by this right now, so when I have some time, I'll be doing some snooping around.

EDIT: I can't access any of the more recent and really interesting articles I keep seeing mentioned online

 

[Molly97]

Thanks for your quick reply Cinnabar.. My daughter was diagnosed with JME. But it is idiopathic. Clean mri, 2 ct scans and 2 eeg's. No known cause. I don't have alot of faith in the neurologist. I know that epilepsy is inigmatic, but he talks like he doesn't know much. Unfortunately, he's the only one in town that will deal with pediatric patients. He recommended meds, but my daughter and I have agreed to try some other way (which seems to be working fairly well so far). I haven't seen any psych problems yet, but she is 14, hasn't started her period yet and is moody. It's probably not a good time to try to figure out if she has depression. I read up on JME, but again to what gain? I can't find anything that I can really sink my teeth into. Do you have any suggestions?

DL,
I'd like to steer you to one of the moderators RobinN who has been dealing with her teenage daughter in a non-medication routine that she herself has devised. If you go to the Library, look for the thread Neurofeedback Rebecca's story to read. Rebecca was diagnosed I believe at 14 and is now a senior in high school. Although she continues to have the occasional seizure, Robin has found the things that work for her. Also, in the Library and in the Kitchen watch for postings by Robin; she does her research and it's always an interesting read.

 

[DLThrasher]

I will do that. Thank you so much for the direction.

 

[Cinnabar]

DID in motion. Momentary....then back to the neurological involvement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<obj...e" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

[Cinnabar]

My specialist had said that persons with DID are extra packed with electricity (as are persons with Epilepsy). She recounted a story to me. "Everytime" one particular patient walked into her office her lamp light bulb would flicker and then go off. Which poses the following question:

Could early maltreatment stimulate the amygdala into a state of heightened electrical irritability or damage the developing hippocampus amygdaloid overexcitation could produce symptoms similar to those experienced by patients witht temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE)?

http://www.annafoundation.org/stwh.pdf

Their is a form of therapy frequently employed with patients who have DID or PTSD named Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). My response to the therapy was out of the realm of my therapist's capability to manage. First, a bit about EMDR and it's objective.

During treatment various procedures and protocols are used to address the entire clinical picture. One of the procedural elements is "dual stimulation" using either bilateral eye movements, tones or taps. During the reprocessing phases the client attends momentarily to past memories, present triggers, or anticipated future experiences while simultaneously focusing on a set of external stimulus. During that time, clients generally experience the emergence of insight, changes in memories, or new associations. The clinician assists the client to focus on appropriate material before initiation of each subsequent set.

During the therapy session I had no safe, removed flashbacks of trauma but a repeated surge of energy striking through me like lightening, literally lifting me off the couch five succecutive times. Only after my diagnosis of having Temporal Lobe Epilepsy did it dawn on me that I had been having a seizure(s). I can only assume that the "dual stimulation" was a trigger for these episodes.

http://www.emdr.com/briefdes.htm

I mentioned earlier on that my left hippocampal volume is 50% less that the right indicating the possible cause of me having DID.

In 1997 Murray B. Stein of the University of California at San Diego also found left hippocampal
abnormalities in 21 adult women who had been sexually abused as children and who had PTSD or
dissociative identity disorder (also called multiple personality disorder, a condition thought by some
researchers to be common in abused females). Stein determined that in these women the volume of the
lefthippocampus was significantly reduced but that the right hippocampus was relatively unaffected. In
addition, he found a clear correspondence between the degree of reduction in hippocampus size and
the severity of the patients' dissociative symptoms.

http://www.annafoundation.org/stwh.pdf

 

[Molly97]

During the therapy session I had no safe, removed flashbacks of trauma but a repeated surge of energy striking through me like lightening, literally lifting me off the couch five succecutive times. Only after my diagnosis of having Temporal Lobe Epilepsy did it dawn on me that I had been having a seizure(s). I can only assume that the "dual stimulation" was a trigger.

I never had EMDR therapy, but your reaction certainly sounds like seizure activity.

 

[Cinnabar]

Yes. And I'm sure it had to do with the bilateral tapping. But I'll have to look into this further.

 

[Billyboyboo]

I do believe that Disorders can link to Epilepsy, no doubt, I am Bipolar (am I ever!) I have DID, I'm not going to call it Multiple Personalities, but for me, I do have different persona's, I know I'm Billy, But I have used different names, completely different person.
I have different Abilities with each personality. As far as the Bipolar and the PTSD, that started from my childhood and YES I do believe it connects to Epilepsy. Look it all up, it connects, I have googled many things. I don't like using the term Schizophrenia, but Schizophrenics have or can have Seizures/ usually Catatonic. It's all in Black & White, it connects.

Thanks for the Article Laurie.

:rock:

Billy

 

[Cinnabar]

Yes, Billy. Psycological Disorders can very surely be linked to Epilepsy. This thread is to provide data and awareness and I wan't to thank you for being one of the biggest contributers by coming out and saying "I am".

 

[Molly97]

I just finished reading the link of the anna foundation that Cinnabar provided. Interesting stuff is putting it mildly.

Every potential parent or anyone working with children should have this link as required reading so that they can understand the potential outcome of any kind of abuse or neglect to the child. And it leads me to say that the judicial system needs to come down harder on those inflicting abuse on a child. Abuse of any kind destroys a child's brain to varying extents depending on sex of the child and the type of abuse.

I found the following quote in the article of interest here:

Together these findings suggest an intriguing model that explains one way in which borderline
personality disorder can emerge. Reduced integration between the right and left hemispheres and a
smaller
corpus callosum may predispose these patients to shift abruptly from left- to right-dominated states
with very different emotional perceptions and memories. Such polarized hemispheric dominance could
cause a person to see friends, family and co-workers in an overly positive way in one state and in a
resoundingly negative way in another--which is the hallmark of this disorder. Moreover, limbic
electrical irritability can produce symptoms of aggression, exasperation and anxiety. Abnormal EEG
activity in the temporal lobe
is also often seen in people with a greatly increased risk for suicide and self-destructive behavior.

I realize this is speaking of borderline personality disorder, but the truth is that it speaks of DID as well. And the integration breakdown between the right and left hemispheres coupled with a decreased corpus collosum(which assists in processing back and forth between the two hemispheres)results in one hemisphere being the residence of one "personality" and the other another personality. And the shifting back and forth between the two hemispheres when dealing with neutral or painful memories.

I hope what I've written has made sense and isn't seen as such a bunch of ramblings. This paper goes far in explaining the switching seen in DID, the development of more than one personality.

 

[Molly97]

And one more observation. Is the integration spoken of needing to be achieved in DID therapy more of a physical integration of the two hemispheres than a solely psychological integration of personalities as I always thought it to be.

 

[Cinnabar]

I realize this speaking borderline personality disorder, but the truth is that it speaks of DID as well.

For what it's worth many persons with DID first get misdiagnosed with Boarderline Personality. To the point: Many persons with DID go for years without proper diagnosis.

And one more observation. Is the integration spoken of needing to be achieved in DID therapy more of a physical integration of the two hemispheres than a solely psychological integration of personalities as I always thought it to be.

I did wonder how "physical" integration of the two hemispheres can come about.

 

[Nakamova]

This might be of interest to those interested in the different "personalities" ascribed to each hemisphere:

www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

In the lecture, Jill Bolte Taylor talks about what happened to her during a stroke. Because she was brain researcher, she was able to note and remember things that most stroke victims would not. She describes how one side of her brain (where there was an aneurysm) was taking over and how the other side was giving way. One side was definitely rooted in the individual, whereas the other side ceased to make a distinction between her self and the rest of the universe. Definitely worth watching.

 

[occb]

I did wonder how "physical" integration of the two hemispheres can come about.

A book you may find interesting is The Brain That Changes Itself. It delves into how people have healed from strokes and other brain-related trauma. The brain forges new neural pathways and neural linkages to compensate, essentially retraining how it works. The new pathways are created through repetitive tasks, neurofeedback and/or talk therapy. It doesn't specifically deal with DID, but it may give you an idea how integration could work on the brain's physical level.

It's a great book -- I couldn't put it down.

 

[Molly97]

That topic was also the topic of a Discovery Channel program; the link is somewhere here, either in the Library or the Kitchen.

I thought the most interesting thing talked about in the documentary was the fact that people can change their brain activity with thoughts alone. A good reason to pay attention to what our thoughts are.

 

[Cint]

Mind is the Master power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills: —
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.
~by James Allen

My sister gave me the book, "The Brain That Changes Itself" for my birthday several years back. It is good stuff. And I gave it to another good friend of mine who had a brain tumor.

Another good book by a neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio, is "The Feeling of What Happens" -Body and Emotion in the making of Consciousness. He does talk about epilepsy and the hippocampus.

 

[Cinnabar]

Thanks, occb. The mind "does" have a magnificent abibility to heal itself! I'll keep those books in mind. Sounds very interesting.

 

[Cinnabar]

I thought the most interesting thing talked about in the documentary was the fact that people can change their brain activity with thoughts alone.

This has me thinking about the strategy employed in "Behavior Modification". I have a friend who has sever OCCD and have witnessed a remarkable change in his actions or inactions. He was basically "trained" to think differently which I'm sure affected the chemicals in his brain.