Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an opportunity for the epilepsy community to raise awareness and challenge stigma about mental health concerns specific to people with epilepsy.

One-third of people with epilepsy suffer from some form of psychiatric disorder. While some may experience few mental health issues, others may suffer debilitating problems of anxiety, depression, or mood disorders.

A Seizing Life® episode, pediatric neuropsychologist Dr. Madison Berl speaks about some of the mental health challenges facing people with epilepsy, what to look out for, and available treatment and therapeutic approaches.

This webinar with Dr. Clemente Vega covers the prevalence of mental health conditions in children and youth with epilepsy compared to the general population and peers with other chronic medical conditions, risk factors associated with co-occurrence of epilepsy and mental health conditions, the importance and process of monitoring, evaluation, and management of mental health concurrently with epilepsy, and more.

This webinar discusses how anxiety and depression in people with epilepsy negatively impact their quality of life, reduce tolerance of antiepileptic medications, and increase the risk of suicidal ideation and behavior. The presentation also reviews how stress impacts epileptic seizures and offers strategies patients can use to better cope with stress.

This webinar discusses the prevalence of anxiety and depression among people with epilepsy. Viewers will learn how anxiety and depression impact people with epilepsy in different ways, and that neurologists often have multiple tools at their disposal to help alleviate these psychiatric symptoms. In some cases, the treatment of these symptoms may influence the treatment of the seizures themselves. 

In this episode of Seizing Life, explore the psychological impacts of epilepsy that can result in mood disorders, like depression and anxiety with Dr. Kanner, Director of the International Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and Chief of Epilepsy Division at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine. He discusses the importance of considering the psychological impacts of an epilepsy diagnosis on both patients and families. Dr. Kanner recommends that physicians take a patient’s full personal and family psychiatric history during the initial diagnosis and outlines how that information should be utilized in treating the patient.