ABSTRACT
Background: Psychogenic Non Epileptic Seizure (PNES) is one of the most common conditions to be mistaken for epilepsy. No clinical feature is pathognomic of PNES, but some help in distinguishing it from epileptic seizure. Role of psychologically stressful events has been considered central to the pathogenesis of PNES and used in differentiating it from epileptic seizure. The purpose of present study was to compare the clinical profile and number of stressful life events in the two patient groups in Indian population. Methods: 50 new patients of epileptic seizure and PNES each, aged 16 to 60 visiting the psychiatric and neurology OPD were selected. Detailed history and physical examination was carried out to exclude any medical illness. Diagnosis was made based on clinical history given by an eye witness and EEG recording. Brain imaging (CT/MRI) was conducted, to rule out any secondary causes of seizure. General health questionnaire 12, and presumptive stressful life event scale was applied on all patients. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis. Chi square was used for categorical data and Man Whitney U test for continuous data. Results: There were significantly more females in the PNES group (P = 0.001) and significantly more illiterate (P = 0.004) .There were no significant difference with regard to the age of onset, marital status. Also there was no statistically significant difference between the two group with regard to number of stressful life event (P = 0.330). Conclusion: Stressful life event should not bias a clinician towards making a diagnosis of PNES.
ABSTRACT
Background: Mental health problems are on the rise in young population because of multiple sources of stress and pressure to excel in the competitive environment, especially depression, substance use disorders and suicide in developing countries. Aims: To assess neuro-psychiatric profile of university students attending psychiatry OPD of a tertiary care centre. Method: All the university students who attended psychiatry OPD were assessed for Neuro-psychiatric problems using DSM-IV TR criteria for psychiatric/behavioural problems and Harrison’s principles of internal medicine criteria for Neurological problems. Results: The common diagnoses were depression 63(19.3%), tension headache 40(12.3%) anxiety disorder NOS 38(11.7%), dhat syndrome 34(10.4%), obsessive compulsive disorder 29(8.9%), migraine 28(8.6%), conversion disorder 14(4.3%), primary insomnia 11(3.4%), schizophrenia 7(2.1%), mania 6(1.8%), seizure disorder 6(1.8%), generalised anxiety disorder 6(1.8%), substance use disorder 5(1.5%). Conclusion: This study gives us an insight into the mental health of university students