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A Behavioural Approach to the Treatment of Epilepsy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

A. Lavender
A. Lavender
Affiliation:
Bexley Hospital, Kent
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Extract

Recently a number of studies have reported successfully reducing seizure frequency by interrupting preseizure behaviour and by manipulating the consequences of a seizure. A small research project was set up to overcome some of the methodological problems of earlier studies and to evaluate such a treatment approach with four children. Treatment involved helping the children to develop means of controlling their seizures, and included a system of rewards for seizure-free periods so as to motivate the children to use their method of control. The results indicated that the treatment was successful in two out of four children. On the basis of these results some suggestions as to the mechanisms involved and the place of such an approach in the management of epilepsy are offered.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , July 1981 , pp. 231 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1981

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