Separation anxiety disorder, perceived overprotection and quality of life in epilepsy patients

People with epilepsy suffer from the stress of living with a chronic, unpredictable disease that can lead to discrimination, misunderstanding, social stigma, and loss of autonomy in activities of daily life, elevating anxiety. Within the scope of this research, we aimed to elucidate the frequency of separation anxiety disorder in adult people with epilepsy and to examine the relationship between separation anxiety symptoms, perceived overprotection, and quality of life in comparison to the control group.

This prospective study was conducted with 105 people with epilepsy and 115 healthy volunteers. All participants were evaluated by a psychiatrist in this study using a DSM-5-based clinical interview. Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire, Structured Clinical Interview for Separation Anxiety Symptoms (SCI-SAS), Separation Anxiety Symptom Inventory (SASI), Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (ASA-27), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were administered to both groups, and Overprotection Scale, Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31) to only epilepsy group. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to explain the quality of life in epilepsy. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to explain separation anxiety symptom scores.

The rates of education, employment, and living alone were lower in the epilepsy group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001). Separation anxiety disorder of adulthood and other psychiatric comorbidities were significantly higher in the epilepsy group (p = 0.029 and p = 0.003). There was a significant negative correlation between the quality of life in epilepsy and separation anxiety symptom level, overprotection, and depression scores (p < 0.001, p = 0.01 and p < 0.01). In the logistic regression analysis, adult separation anxiety symptom level and depression scores were found to be independent factors for quality of life in epilepsy (p = 0.029 and p < 0.01). In patients with epilepsy, depression and quality of life scores were predictors for adult separation anxiety symptoms severity (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01).

The frequency of diagnosis of separation anxiety disorder in adulthood was significantly higher in people with epilepsy. Overprotective attitudes of families and low quality of life were associated with high levels of separation anxiety.