Page 87 - JCBP-3-3

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Impact of seizures on life

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics and psychiatric comorbidity
S. Diagnosis Sociodemographic characteristics Seizure Psychiatric comorbidity
No. characteristics
Age Occupation Residence Education Onset Frequency
1 DS 37 People carer CABA Completed high school 37 Daily Conversive disorder
2 DS 46 Domestic worker GBA Completed primary school 42 Weekly Conversive disorder
3 DS 18 Student CABA Unfinished university 13 Biweekly Dysthymia; conversive disorder;
agoraphobia
4 DS 18 Employee at a GBA Complete high school 16 Weekly Conversive disorder
family business
5 DS 44 Unemployed GBA Completed primary school 5 Weekly Conversive disorder; PTSD
6 DRE 22 Student La Plata Unfinished university 12 Weekly Major depressive disorder; anxiety
disorder; PTSD
7 DRE 22 Student GBA Unfinished university 11 Daily -
8 DRE 29 Unemployed GBA Completed high school 4 Daily PTSD
9 DRE 21 Nanny CABA Completed high school 2 Daily Postictal psychosis
10 DRE 38 Unemployed Tucumán Completed high school 12 Daily -
Abbreviations: CABA: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires; DRE: Drug-resistant epilepsy; DS: Dissociative seizures; GBA: Gran Buenos Aires (CABA
suburbs); PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder.

Table 2. Role of emotions in patients with DS
Theme Subtheme Sub‑subtheme Quote
Role of emotions in DS As a consequence Fear (2) P: I live locked up at home… isolated, isolated, isolated… from the outside world. Err…
I’m afraid of… not sometimes, always… of… my reactions.
Worry (1) P: My concern is that… if it gets resolved or if it keeps going on.
Shame (3) P: And the truth is that at first, I locked myself up a bit because I was embarrassed to be
seen with those things…
Anguish (2) P: That makes me anguished.
Discomfort (2) P: I get through this… and that… it’s a hell, hell.
Sadness (1) I: And now that you know that your diagnosis is… psychogenic non-epileptic seizure….?
P: That also makes me sad, but… to a lesser extent, like… my concern is that… whether it
will get fixed or keep happening.
Hopelessness (1) P: I don’t know if I’m going to have a normal life.
Irritation (2) P: They already bothered me.
Frustration (1) P: As I need to take the carbamazepine, I have to take the luminal right away, otherwise if
not it will catch me, since it used to catch me anyway.
I: Did it frustrate you a lot?
P: Yes.
As a trigger Stress (3) P: I’ve had, on a bus I’ve had an attack because... because a boy was crying... I mean, errr,
but not because it bothers me, but because it hurts. It hurts me... (...) it drives me crazy...
or seeing a mom beating a child. eh. it makes me very sad.
Joy (1) I: It is when you are very well, for example when you get good news, does it also happen
to you?
P: Yes. It’s not that… it’s not just because I’m sad.
Note: I: interviewer. P: Patient. The numbers in brackets indicate the frequency with which each subtheme appears. Luminal is the trade name for
phenobarbital.
Abbreviation: DS: Dissociative seizure.

All patients with DRE expressed a perception of concerns about disclosing their illness to friends, partners,
overprotection by relatives, and almost all expressed or employers. They also reported having faced conflictive

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 81 doi: 10.36922/jcbp.8112