What is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy often referred to, as a seizure disorder is a chronic neurological condition characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. The condition is named from the Greek epilepsia "a taking hold of or seizing.” It is commonly controlled with medication, although surgical methods are used as well. (February 07, 2005)
History
In the past, epilepsy was associated with religious experiences and even demonic possession. Apocryphally, epilepsy has been called the "Sacred Disease" because people thought that epileptic seizures were a form of attack by demons, or that the gods sent the visions experienced by persons with epilepsy. However, in many cultures, persons with epilepsy have been stigmatized, shunned, or even imprisoned; in the Salpetriere, the birthplace of modern neurology, Jean-Martin Charcot found people with epilepsy side-by-side with the mentally retarded, chronic syphilitics, and the criminally insane. In Tanzania to this day, onlookers will not touch a person having an epileptic fit, owing to fear of demons, even if the seizure causes the person to fall into the cooking fire (the flickering light from fire may have provoked the seizure in the first place.)
Stigma continues to this day, in both the public and private spheres, but polls suggest it is generally decreasing with time, at least in the developed world; Hippocrates remarked that epilepsy would be considered divine only until it was understood.
Types of Epileptic Seizure
Epileptic seizures are classified both by their patterns of activity in the brain and their effects on behavior. In terms of their pattern of activity, seizures may be described as either partial (focal) or generalized. Partial seizures only involve a localized part of the brain, whereas generalized seizures involve the entire cortex. The term 'secondary generalization' may be used to describe a partial seizure that later spreads to the whole of the cortex and becomes generalized................
