Pediatric psychogenic nonepileptic seizures: A study of assessment tools
Abstract
The goal of this study was to identify assessment tools and associated behavioral domains that differentiate children with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) from those with epilepsy. A sample of 24 children with PNES (mean age 14.0 years, 14 female), 24 children with epilepsy (mean age 13.6 years, 13 female), and their parents were recruited from five epilepsy centers in the United States. Participants completed a battery of behavioral questionnaires including somatization, anxiety, and functional disability symptoms. Children with PNES had significantly higher scores on the Childhood Somatization and Functional Disability Inventories, and their parents reported more somatic problems on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Depression, anxiety, and alexithymia instruments did not differentiate the groups. Measures of somatization and functional disability may be promising tools for differentiating the behavioral profile of PNES from that of epilepsy. Increased somatic awareness and perceived disability emphasize the similarity of PNES to other pediatric somatoform disorders.
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Children with PNES have greater catastrophic symptom expectations.
“Children with PNES have greater catastrophic symptoms expectations such as, “When my head is pounding, I worry I could have a stroke,””
From Retraining and control therapy for pediatric psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (2020) · cites this paper as [14]
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- Authors
- Salpekar, J. A., Plioplys, S., Siddarth, P., Bursch, B., Shaw, R. J., Asato, M. R., LaFrance, W. C., Weisbrot, D. M., Dunn, D. W., Austin, J. K., Olson, D. M., & Caplan, R.
- Affiliations
- Children's National (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Stanford Medicine (US)
- Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (US)
- Stony Brook University Hospital (US)
- Indiana University Indianapolis (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Epilepsy & Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-01
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 50-55
- ISSN
- 1525-5050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2107649804
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.23
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Epilepsy & Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- American Epilepsy Society
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Epilepsy research and treatment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Pain Management and Placebo Effect
- Keywords
- psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, pediatric epilepsy, differential diagnosis, somatization, functional disability, somatic symptoms, alexithymia, anxiety, depression, somatoform disorders
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Anxiety, Child, Depression, Disability Evaluation, Female, Humans, Male, Parent-Child Relations, Parents, Pediatrics, Psychophysiologic Disorders, Seizures, Somatoform Disorders, Checklist
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