SOCIAL AND FAMILY ASPECTS IN EPILEPSY OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENTS

ABSTRACT: 

Epilepsy is among most frequent neurological disorders. The aim of the diagnosis is to have a syndromic approach. This will allow the choise of the most adequate treatment and corect data about the prognosis. The studies published in the last years have shown that the prognosis of seizures with onset in childhood is in general favorable. The social prognosis, on the other part, is not so good, even in the uncomplicated epilepsies. The reasons for these outcomes is not fully understood, but the stigma of these patients, still present, could contribute to it. The social outcome of the patients with complicated epilepsies is almost always a poor one. The families of the patients with epilepsy have lower scores compared with control groups, and this in turn has negative influences on the children. The parents of children with epilepsy need corect informations about the disorder, the syndrome and the prognosis and they need to be instructed about the most adequate attitudes regarding their children. There is a strong need for support for the parents of children with epilepsy, in order to decrease the frustration, social retraction, tendency to neglect themselves and their other children in the favour of the child with epilepsy or the opposite.