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Personality of patients with pseudoseizures

Departments of Neurology (Drs. Vanderzant and Sackellares), Psychology and Psychiatry (Drs. Giordani and Berent), University of Michigan Medical Center, and the Veterans Administration Medical Center (Dr. Berent), Ann Arbor, MI; and the Department of Neurology (Dr. Dreifuss), University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

We studied personality features of 19 patients with pseudoseizures (PS) only. Scores on a personality inventory (MMPI) were compared with those of adults with generalized seizures and correlated to cognitive measures (Halstead-Reitan). Mean MMPI scores did not differ significantly, and no profile distinguished PS and epilepsy patients. MMPI abnormalities of PS patients were diverse and seldom characteristic of hysteria. Eight PS patients had cognitive impairment, two without MMPI evidence of personality disorder. These findings suggest that the etiology of pseudoseizures is multi factorial, involving different psychopathologies and sometimes cerebral dysfunction.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Vanderzant, Department of Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory, University Hospital B300/0036, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, M1 48109–0036.

Supported by NIH 1 T32 NS07222–02, Training in Basic and Clinical Neurosciences. This support is gratefully acknowledged.

Accepted for publication September 27, 1985.

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