الفهرس 
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Abstract
The interest in studying the relation between epilepsy and psychiatric disorders in children reflects the persistent interest in studying the different presentations of brain pathology, and whether they are different entities or both are of common pathology yet differs in its clinical presentations.
Our study was designed to test the hypothesis that children and adolescents with epilepsy have increased rates of co-morbid psychiatric disorders than healthy children. These psychiatric problems are not well revealed, at least in the Egyptian patients.
The aim of the study was to detect the rate of psychiatric co-morbidities in the epileptic children and adolescents, and correlating them with different seizure related variables.
A sample of one hundred and twenty eight patients were selected from either new or follow up cases, who were attending the outpatient clinics, neuropsychiatry department, Ain Shams University Hospitals. Eight cases were excluded because of low IQ.
Patients evaluated in this work involved 120 (61 patient with generalized seizures, and 59 patient with focal seizures) epileptic children and adolescents who were assessed with Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), The Benton Revised Visual Retention Test (BVRT), Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), Child Depression Inventory (CDI), Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), and Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (RBPC).
Patients in this study were not only compared to the control group constituted of 30 healthy children and adolescents, but also compared among themselves regarding IQ, and the severity of the psychiatric illnesses.
All data gathered were recorded, tabulated and transferred on Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16. Many statistical methods were used for analysis of data.
Our study resulted in the following:
• Demographic variables: 55% of the sample were males, while 45% were females, with age mean ± SD = 12.317 ± 2.177.
• Only 22.69% of the sample had positive family history of epilepsy, while 77.31% had no family history of epilepsy. On the other hand, only 5.04% of the sample had positive family history of psychiatric illness, while 94.96% hadn’t.
• Febrile convulsions was found only in 7.56% of the studied sample.
• Psychiatric co-morbidity was found in 48.33% of the patients, most of them were suffering of focal seizures.
They were distributed as follows:
• ADHD & Disruptive disorders: 15% of the sample were diagnosed as ADHD, 5% as conduct disorder, and 0.83% as oppositional defiant disorder.
• Mood and anxiety disorders: 3.33% of the sample were diagnosed as depression, while among anxiety disorders social anxiety disorder was the most prevailing diagnosis with 5.83%, followed by specific phobias with 3.33%, generalized anxiety disorder with 1.67%, while separation anxiety disorder and adjustment disorder each with 0.83%.
• Co-morbidities was mostly between ADHD and conduct disorder with 5.83%, followed by ADHD and specific phobia in 1.67%, while depression was co-morbid with generalized anxiety disorder in 1.67% and it was co-morbid with social anxiety disorder in 0.83%.
• On examining the cognitive functions of the patients we found 25% of the sample having discrepancy between verbal and performance IQ, and 49.17% of the sample had impaired visual perception, memory and visuo-constructive abilities.
• By studying seizure related variables in relation to psychiatric co-morbidity and cognitive impairment we found significant correlation between frequency of seizures and prolonged duration of epilepsy without receiving treatment, and psychiatric co-morbidity, while there was significant correlation between duration of illness and receiving polytherapy, and having impaired visual perception, memory and visuo-constructive abilities.
• On comparing the children suffering of generalized seizures with those who suffer of focal seizures we found significant difference in TIQ and attention which were more worse in the generalized group, while those of the focal group revealed more severe anxiety and motor excess problem than those of the generalized group.
• On evaluating predictive factors we found that frequency of seizures and prolonged duration of illness without receiving treatment were the significant correlates among seizure related variables while type of seizure, age of onset and duration of epilepsy were non significant.