[Mental Disorders in Children with Epilepsy]

In a group of 80 epileptic children aged 10-11-12 years in 75% of cases psychic changes were found, including disturbances of intellectual abilities of the oligophrenic-dementive type, and personality disorders. The cause of these disturbances was organic brain damage due mainly to pathological events in pregnancy and labour, and to mechanical craniocerebral trauma in early childhood. Other causes included: duration, type and frequency of seizures and longstanding pharmacological polytherapy not considering the interaction of drugs. The coexistent neurotic symptoms in 60% out of 80 studied children were caused by abnormal family situation and situation in school which had undoubtedly an effect on the prognosis and course of epilepsy in children.