Characteristics and mechanisms of epilepsy spectrum disorder: an explanatory model

Recently, a complex neurobehavioral disorder with paroxysmal affective, psychosensory, and cognitive symptoms has been described by a number of different neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological practitioners. Although a variety of different terms have been used to characterize this clinical entity, the recently coined term epilepsy spectrum disorder (ESD) will be used for the purposes of this article. The clinical identification, neuropsychological characteristics, differential diagnosis, etiology, and treatment response of such patients will be reviewed. The possible neuropathological and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying ESD and implications for future research will also be discussed It is argued that neuropsychologists should be more familiar with this syndrome because such patients are frequently referred for neuropsychological assessment when practitioners from medical disciplines are confused by the atypical and polysymptomatic clinical presentations of ESD patients.