Alterations in the contents of consciousness in partial epileptic seizures.
Mirja Johanson, Katja Valli, Antti Revonsuo, John E Chaplin, Jan-eric Wedlund
Epilepsy & behavior : E&B August 1, 2008 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2008.04.014 via PubMed
Summary
During partial epileptic seizures, patients experience distortions in most dimensions of consciousness, yet their subjective seizure experiences remain consistent from one seizure to another. The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory proved useful for measuring these subjective experiences.
Study at a glance
| Design | observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Population | patients with epilepsy experiencing partial seizures |
| Key finding | Patients with epilepsy report alterations on most dimensions of consciousness during seizures, but individual seizure experiences remain similar across recurring seizures. |
Abstract
Epilepsy research suffers from a deficiency of systematic studies concerning the phenomenology of the contents of consciousness during seizures, partially because of the lack of suitable research methods. The Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), a standardized, valid, and reliable questionnaire, was used here to study which dimensions of the contents of consciousness are distorted during partial epileptic seizures compared with baseline. Further, the similarity of the altered pattern of subjective experiences across recurring seizures was also explored. Our results indicate that patients with epilepsy report alterations on most dimensions of the contents of consciousness in conjunction with seizures, but individual seizure experiences remain similar from one seizure to another. The PCI was found suitable for the assessment of subjective experiences during epileptic seizures and could be a valuable tool in providing new information about phenomenal consciousness in epilepsy in both the research and clinical settings.