[Psychiatric disorders in epilepsy: an update]

Although there is good clinical evidence suggesting that the psychiatric disorders of epilepsy are clinically distinct, they do not find a place in the current classification systems. To develop a useful classification of the psychopathology of epilepsy, it is important to embrace not only the spectrum of psychiatric diagnoses as given by current psychiatric terminology, as in ICD-10 and DSM-IV, but also those diagnoses related to the classification of seizures and epilepsy. This should be combined with considerable clinical experience in understanding these associations. The Commission on Psychobiology of The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) has developed a classification which is shown in this revision. We also describe the bidirectionality between epilepsy and depression and its consequences. A special issue is the overlap between depressive epilepsy-related symptoms and bipolar symptomatology. The psychoses of epilepsy, in the way the ILAE classification considers them, are also reviewed. Finally, we include case reports that illustrate what we understand as the complexity for the clinical diagnosis and therapeutics. Key words.