Abstracts

RATIONALE: This study examined if children with complex partial seizures (CPS) have more thought disorder than children with petit mal and than normal children. It also compared the profile of seizure-related, cognitive, developmental, and behavioral correlates of thought disorder in the CPS and PGE groups. METHODS: The Story Game (Caplan et al., 1989) and a structured psychiatric interview was administered to 92 CPS, 51 PGE, and 117 normal children, aged 5.1 - 16.9 years. Speech samples were coded with the Kiddie Formal Thought Disorder Rating Scale (Caplan et al., 1989) and with Halliday and Hasan's (1976) analysis of cohesion. Each child had a structured psychiatric itnerview and IQ testing. RESULTS: Above and beyond differences in mental age, the CPS and PGE groups had thought disorder compared to the normal subjects. The CPS group had a wider range of more severe thought disorder than the PGE group. The CPS subjects with the most severe thought disorder had a schizophrenia-like psychosis. Thought disorder was associated with EEG evidence for fronto-temporal involvement, as well as verbal, performance, and global cognitive dysfunction in the CPS group. In the PGE group, thought disorder was related to seizure control and global cognitive dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: The different thought disorder profiles suggest that thought disorder might reflect the effects of CPS on cognition and fronto-temporal dysfunction and of uncontrolled PGE on cognition.