Abstracts

Rationale: Presence of personality disorders in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) has been described. However, a study about the expression of personality traits with quantitativave and objective measures has not yet been done. We aimed to evaluate the expression of personality traits in patients with JME using a standardized assessment - Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Methods: Twenty patients diagnosed with JME and 20 healthy volunteers, matched as to age and socioeconomic status, were evaluated by the TCI. TCI is a self-administered questionnaire developed to assess the seven traits of personality, categorized into Temperament (Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence and Persistence) and Character (Self-Directness, Cooperativeness, Self-Transcendence). Student's t test for independent parametric data samples was used for statistical analysis.Results: The group of patients with JME presented significantly higher scores in the temperament factors - Novelty Seeking (p=0,038) and Harm Avoidance (p=0,006) - and significantly lower scores in the Character factors - Self-Directeness (p=0,0001) and Cooperativeness (p=0,0001). Scores of patients with JME were not statiscally different compared to controls in Reward Dependence (p=0,785), Persistence (p=0,303) and Self-Transcedence (p=0,403). Conclusions: Our results show that patients with JME have a higher expression of personality traits associated with impulsive, uninhibited and exploratory behaviors, antecipatory anxiety, and avoidance to punishment signals. Performance in character evaluation demonstrated minor emotional maturity and worse identification of oneself as an independent and component individual of society. These findings corroborate the hypothesis of impulsiveness and avoidance behaviors in patients with JME, but they do not support the idea of a greater expression of dependent personality traits.