Aura interruption: the Andrews/Reiter behavioral intervention may reduce seizures and improve quality of life — a pilot trial
Abstract
Patients with epilepsy frequently experience depression and emotional stress and these may function as seizure triggers in epileptogenic frontotemporal cortex, which serves in emotional processing. Eight patients enrolled in a pilot trial of a 6-month epilepsy-specific behavioral approach comprising counseling and relaxation to recognize and eliminate emotional seizure triggers. Potential participants with psychogenic seizures were excluded by long-term EEG and/or the MMPI profile. One participant became seizure free, another had an approximately 90% reduction in seizures, and two additional participants achieved a greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency (total responder rate=50%), stable during 6 months of observation after the intervention. All completers showed marked and stable improvement of quality of life (Quality of Life in Epilepsy-89 inventory) and temporary improvement in the Profile of Mood States. An adequately powered randomized controlled trial is needed to confirm our findings, which suggest that behavioral approaches may hold promise for motivated patients with epilepsy.
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The NDDI-E has good internal consistency and test-retest reliability.
“The inventory was found to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability [23, 24].”
From A prospective service evaluation of acceptance and commitment therapy for patients with refractory epilepsy (2015) · cites this paper as [23]
A score of more than 15 on the NDDI-E has 90% specificity, 81% sensitivity and a predictive value of 0.62 for a diagnosis of major depression.
“A score of more than 15 on the NDDI-E was found to have 90% specificity, 81% sensitivity and a predictive value of 0.62 for a diagnosis of major depression [23]”
From A prospective service evaluation of acceptance and commitment therapy for patients with refractory epilepsy (2015) · cites this paper as [23]
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- Authors
- Elsas, S. M., Gregory, W. L., White, G., Navarro, G., Salinsky, M. C., & Andrews, D. J.
- Affiliations
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Elsas, S.M.
- Venue
- Epilepsy & Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-12
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 765-772
- ISSN
- 1525-5050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2090744123
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Epilepsy & Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR024140)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (1 K23 AT01993-01)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Epilepsy research and treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Diet and metabolism studies
- Keywords
- epilepsy, behavioral interventions, depression, relaxation training, counseling, seizure frequency reduction, quality of life, psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, mood states, seizure triggers
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Behavior Therapy, Electroencephalography, Epilepsies, Partial, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Functional Laterality, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Compliance, Personality Inventory, Pilot Projects, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Video Recording
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