Psychiatric and psychological assessment of Spanish patients with drug-resistant epilepsy and psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) with no response to previous treatments

Abstract

Objective: Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are common imitators of epileptic seizures. Refractoriness to antiseizure medication hinders the differential diagnosis between ES and PNES, carrying deleterious consequences in patients with PNES. Psychiatric and psychological characteristics may assist in the differential diagnosis between drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and PNES. Nevertheless, current comprehensive psychiatric and psychological descriptive studies on both patient groups are scarce and with several study limitations. This study provides a comprehensive psychiatric and psychological characterization of Spanish patients with DRE and PNES. Method: A cross-sectional and comparative study was completed with 104 patients with DRE and 21 with PNES. Psychiatric and psychological characteristics were assessed with the HADS, SCL-90-R, NEOFFI-R, PDQ-4+, COPE, and QOLIE-31 tests. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used, and regression models were fit to further explore factors affecting patients’ life quality. Results: Patients with PNES had greater levels of somatization and extraversion and were associated with benzodiazepine intake. Patients with DRE showed greater narcissistic personality disorder symptoms than those with PNES. In patients with DRE, difficulty in performing basic needs-related tasks and greater psychological distress severity and seizure frequency were associated with poorer life quality. In contrast, being a woman, having a psychiatric disorder history, and greater psychiatric symptoms’ intensity were associated with poorer life quality in patients with PNES. Conclusion: Patients with DRE and PNES share similar psychiatric and psychological characteristics, with only very few being significantly different.