Bipolar Disorder in Epilepsy

Bipolar disorder (a condition of major mood swings) or milder forms of ups and downs in mood may occur with a number to neurological conditions. Recently, one study showed that these mood changes occur fairly often in individuals with epilepsy studied in the general community. We speculate that bipolar symptoms occur with even higher frequency in a tertiary epilepsy center than that encountered in the previous community-based study. The goals of this study are to assess:

• the rate of bipolar symptoms as measured by a self-reporting screening tool in a tertiary epilepsy center setting
• the meaning of a positive screening score in epilepsy patients
• the utility, sensitivity and specificity of alternative screening tools for mood instability in epilepsy patients
• the correlation of mood instability with seizure-related variables
• the relation of a positive screening score on quality of life.

Inclusion criteria

• Male or female 18 years of age or older
• Being evaluated at the Long Island Jewish Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
• Capable of completing self-reporting questionnaires

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with mental retardation
• Patients with pseudoseizures