Synonyms
Cerebral seizures; Convulsive disorder; Seizure disorder
Short Description or Definition
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures of cerebral origin. Neither a specific disease nor a single syndrome, epilepsy encompasses a variety of symptom complexes arising from multifarious brain dysfunctions from various pathologic processes that produce seizures from a flurry of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. The hallmark of epilepsy is two or more unprovoked seizures (excluding, e.g., seizures secondary to alcohol withdrawal) occurring more than 24 h apart. Seizures may be accompanied by a wide range of behavioral disturbances and may or may not entail a loss of consciousness. They sometimes involve an “aura” (see entry for “Aura”), a subjective sensation signaling the onset of a seizure that may include sensory experiences such as smells and visual distortions. There is a great deal of heterogeneity in epilepsy’s presentation, any...
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References and Readings
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Perrine, K.R. (2018). Epilepsy. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1042
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_1042
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