American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine

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Electrophysiology of Seizure Disorders May Hold Key to the Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders

Received: 20 August 2019    Accepted: 20 September 2019    Published: 30 September 2019
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Abstract

Despite the increasing burden of mental illness, social stigma and fears that psychological and emotional problems are a sign of character weakness prevent most sufferers from seeking treatment. These barriers are reinforced by diagnostic ambiguity, frequent drug side effects, variable treatment success, and a lack of clarity about the cause of mental illness. Much more progress has been made with epilepsy, a closely related group of disorders for which the pathophysiology is better understood. Although psychiatric disorders and seizure disorders are known to be distinctly different conditions, they have many shared features including their disruptive effects on mentation, their migratory nature, and their responsiveness to anticonvulsant drugs. In addition, a comparative analysis of the two disorder-types strongly suggests that they have shared mechanisms of symptom production, symptom progression, and symptom prevention. In this side-by-side comparison of the two disorder-types, I will discuss how the electrophysiological patterns that underlie seizure initiation and migration help explain how psychiatric symptoms develop and morph into one another, thus providing important insights into the pathophysiology of mental illness and potentially serving as a guide to the development of more effective treatments.

DOI 10.11648/j.ajcem.20190705.11
Published in American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (Volume 7, Issue 5, September 2019)
Page(s) 103-110
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Neuronal Hyperexcitability, Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders, Bipolar Spectrum, Mood Cycling, Electrophysiology of Seizures, Kindling, Therapeutic Mechanism of ECT

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    Michael Raymond Binder. (2019). Electrophysiology of Seizure Disorders May Hold Key to the Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders. American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, 7(5), 103-110. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcem.20190705.11

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    Michael Raymond Binder. Electrophysiology of Seizure Disorders May Hold Key to the Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders. Am. J. Clin. Exp. Med. 2019, 7(5), 103-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcem.20190705.11

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    AMA Style

    Michael Raymond Binder. Electrophysiology of Seizure Disorders May Hold Key to the Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders. Am J Clin Exp Med. 2019;7(5):103-110. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcem.20190705.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajcem.20190705.11,
      author = {Michael Raymond Binder},
      title = {Electrophysiology of Seizure Disorders May Hold Key to the Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders},
      journal = {American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine},
      volume = {7},
      number = {5},
      pages = {103-110},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajcem.20190705.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcem.20190705.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajcem.20190705.11},
      abstract = {Despite the increasing burden of mental illness, social stigma and fears that psychological and emotional problems are a sign of character weakness prevent most sufferers from seeking treatment. These barriers are reinforced by diagnostic ambiguity, frequent drug side effects, variable treatment success, and a lack of clarity about the cause of mental illness. Much more progress has been made with epilepsy, a closely related group of disorders for which the pathophysiology is better understood. Although psychiatric disorders and seizure disorders are known to be distinctly different conditions, they have many shared features including their disruptive effects on mentation, their migratory nature, and their responsiveness to anticonvulsant drugs. In addition, a comparative analysis of the two disorder-types strongly suggests that they have shared mechanisms of symptom production, symptom progression, and symptom prevention. In this side-by-side comparison of the two disorder-types, I will discuss how the electrophysiological patterns that underlie seizure initiation and migration help explain how psychiatric symptoms develop and morph into one another, thus providing important insights into the pathophysiology of mental illness and potentially serving as a guide to the development of more effective treatments.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    JF  - American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine
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    AB  - Despite the increasing burden of mental illness, social stigma and fears that psychological and emotional problems are a sign of character weakness prevent most sufferers from seeking treatment. These barriers are reinforced by diagnostic ambiguity, frequent drug side effects, variable treatment success, and a lack of clarity about the cause of mental illness. Much more progress has been made with epilepsy, a closely related group of disorders for which the pathophysiology is better understood. Although psychiatric disorders and seizure disorders are known to be distinctly different conditions, they have many shared features including their disruptive effects on mentation, their migratory nature, and their responsiveness to anticonvulsant drugs. In addition, a comparative analysis of the two disorder-types strongly suggests that they have shared mechanisms of symptom production, symptom progression, and symptom prevention. In this side-by-side comparison of the two disorder-types, I will discuss how the electrophysiological patterns that underlie seizure initiation and migration help explain how psychiatric symptoms develop and morph into one another, thus providing important insights into the pathophysiology of mental illness and potentially serving as a guide to the development of more effective treatments.
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