[Panic attacks simulated by occipital lobe seizures]

Z Kinder Jugendpsychiatr Psychother. 2009 May;37(3):203-7. doi: 10.1024/1422-4917.37.3.203.
[Article in German]

Abstract

Eleven-year-old Stephanie was admitted to a child and adolescent psychiatry day hospital with symptoms of an anxiety and panic disorder, and compulsive and self-harmful behavior. The patient described detailed threatening scenic sequences that caused her to feel panicky. They symptoms could be classified as epilepsy with visually dominated seizures of the occipital lobe. In addition to pharmacological treatment with oxcabazepine, extensive multimodal interventions as part of the child and adolescent psychiatric day hospital treatment program helped all family members to understand and handle the seizures. Eight weeks after initiation of treatment, Stephanie was seizure-free. Complex partial epilepsy can be mistaken for primary child-psychiatric disorder.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Anticonvulsants / therapeutic use
  • Anxiety Disorders / diagnosis
  • Anxiety Disorders / psychology
  • Anxiety Disorders / therapy
  • Carbamazepine / analogs & derivatives
  • Carbamazepine / therapeutic use
  • Child
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Compulsive Behavior / diagnosis
  • Compulsive Behavior / psychology
  • Day Care, Medical
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Electroencephalography
  • Epilepsies, Partial / diagnosis*
  • Epilepsies, Partial / psychology
  • Epilepsies, Partial / therapy
  • Family Therapy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Oxcarbazepine
  • Panic Disorder / diagnosis*
  • Panic Disorder / psychology
  • Panic Disorder / therapy
  • Self-Injurious Behavior / diagnosis
  • Self-Injurious Behavior / psychology

Substances

  • Anticonvulsants
  • Carbamazepine
  • Oxcarbazepine