[Epilepsy from the pediatric and adolescent psychiatric viewpoint]

For epileptic children and their families, the development during the past two decades of drug treatment and social, educational and professional integration as well as psychological support has led to better help and comprehension. The traditional psychiatric concepts of an epileptic constitution or of a specific epileptic psychopathology in childhood and adolescence are nowadays subject of doubt. The idea of a linear relationship between organic and mental disease, postulating that symptoms are direct consequences of a brain dysfunction or lesion had to be abandoned. The physician has to deal with symptoms not only as organic dysfunctions but also as senseful in a psychodynamic context. Modern concepts are based on the idea of a structurally and functionally integrated psychophysical level of maturity, taking account of the individual psyche as well as of family and social relationships. This model allows to prevent social atrophy and to better understand and use the insufficiently exploited evolutionary potential in therapy and educational measures. Epileptic seizures are a particular and manifold charge for the child, not only on the social level, but very deeply in his inner life.