BACKGROUND: Current research suggests that stressful life experiences and situations create a substantive effect in the development of the initial manifestations of psychotic disorders and may influence temporo-limbic epileptic-like activity manifesting as cognitive and affective seizure-like symptoms in non-epileptic conditions. METHODS: The current study assessed trauma history, hair cortisol levels, epileptic-like manifestations and other psychopathological symptoms in 56 drug naive adult young women experiencing their initial occurrence of psychosis. RESULTS: Hair cortisol levels among patients experiencing their initial episode of psychosis, were significantly correlated with stress symptoms measured by Trauma Symptom Checklist-40 (r = - 0.48, p < 0.01), and complex partial seizure-like symptoms measured by the Complex Partial Seizure-Like Symptoms Inventory (r = - 0.33, p < 0.05) and LSCL-33 (r = - 0.33, p < 0.05). Hair cortisol levels were not found to be significantly correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression measured by Beck depression Inventory and Zung Anxiety Scale. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest a significant relationship between epileptic-like symptoms and stress responses demonstrated by patients in their first psychotic episode. These findings may suggest the potential for research to explore usefulness of anticonvulsant treatment in patients who do not respond to usual psychotropic medication.

Center for Neuropsychiatric Research of Traumatic Stress Department of Psychiatry and UHSL 1st Faculty of Medicine and Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine Pilsen Charles University Prague Prague Czechia

Roudebush VA Medical Center and the Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis IN United States

Rush University Medical Center Chicago IL United States

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Fear of Flying, Stress and Epileptic-Like Symptoms