ABSTRACT
In 1957, Landau and Kleffner reported six cases of a "syndrome of acquired aphasia with convulsive disorder". Since this first report more than 130 cases with acquired language disabilities with EEG-abnormalities have been described. Comprehension of language is primarily affected, spike discharges are predominantly found in temporal regions. Facultative symptoms are epileptic seizures and psychiatric disorders. The paper gives a review of the literature describing the clinical manifestations, the therapeutic procedure, the prognosis and the etiological factors of this syndrome, which is even listed in the last version of the ICD-10 and the International Classification of Epilepsies and Epileptic Syndromes.
Subject(s)
Aphasia/diagnosis , Epilepsy/diagnosis , Adolescent , Brain Damage, Chronic/diagnosis , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Prognosis , SyndromeSubject(s)
Play Therapy/methods , Psychotherapy, Group/methods , Adolescent , Female , Group Processes , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
The problems involved in treating psychogenic movement disorders in mentally retarded persons are pointed out. A psychoanalytic approach is doomed to failure because of the mental handicap. The authors report positive therapeutic results with a 17-year-old girl who had a severe hysterical movement disorder including sudden falls and a grotesque gait. Successful behavior therapy with this patient supports the hypothesis that conditioning was the chief factor in the maintenance of the symptoms and indicates that even severe mental retardation does not necessarily imply that there will be resistance to extinction. The individuals of greatest significance to the patient should, in the author's view, play an important part in the treatment program.
