Kaplan + Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11e

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Chapter 21: Neurocognitive Disorders

Figure 21.5-1 Electroencephalographic recording during general- ized tonic-clonic seizure showing rhythmic sharp waves and muscles artifact during tonic phase, spike and wave discharges during clonic phase, and atten- uation of activity during postictal state. (Courtesy of Barbara F. Westmoreland, M.D.)

partial seizures .  Partial seizures are classified as either sim- ple (without alterations in consciousness) or complex (with an alteration in consciousness). Somewhat more than half of all patients with partial seizures have complex partial seizures. Other terms used for complex partial seizures are temporal lobe epilepsy, psychomotor seizures, and limbic epilepsy; these terms, however, are not accurate descriptions of the clinical

loses contact with the environment, are characteristic of petit mal epi- lepsy, but the patient has no true loss of consciousness and no convulsive movements during the episodes. The EEG produces a characteristic pat- tern of three-per-second spike-and-wave activity (Fig. 21.5-2). In rare instances, petit mal epilepsy begins in adulthood. Adult-onset petit mal epilepsy can be characterized by sudden, recurrent psychotic episodes or deliriums that appear and disappear abruptly. The symptoms may be accompanied by a history of falling or fainting spells.

Figure 21.5-2 Petit mal epilepsy characterized by bilaterally synchronous, 3-Hz spike and slow-wave activity.