Psychopathology in epilepsy and learned helplessness
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Updated: Oct 3, 2026

Preparing Undercut Model of Posttraumatic Epileptogenesis in Rodents
Published on: September 15, 2011
Abstract:
It is proposed that epilepsy is a high psychological risk disorder because persons with epilepsy are vulnerable to the powerful behavioral ramifications of exposure to unpredictable, uncontrollable, aversive events. The most commonly reported psychopathologies in persons with epilepsy parallel those noted in humans and infrahuman organisms subjected to unpredictable/uncontrollable aversive events and it is suggested that Seligman's theory of learned helplessness provides a useful framework for interpreting and predicting psychologic dysfunctions in epilepsy.
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