One of the most striking
descriptions of personally
in neurology is in patients
with epilepsy that arises from the
temporal lobes. The temporal lobes are located on either side
of the brain roughly in the area beneath the ears and are the seat of human memory
and emotion. It has been shown in a number
of studies that disturbances in this region can
result in striking behavioral
or cognitive (memory attention
etc) change.
An American neurologist Noramal Geschwind, widely regard
as the father of behavioral
neurology described specific
personality features in people
with temporal lobe epilepsy
These includes :-
A tendency to write copiously (but not necessarily in a creative way) and to keep voluminous diaries (hypergraphia )
A tendency to be overly religious, often in a ritualistic manner, out of keeping with the person’s family/ cultural background (Hyper- religiosity).
A tendency to write copiously (but not necessarily in a creative way) and to keep voluminous diaries (hypergraphia )
A tendency to be overly religious, often in a ritualistic manner, out of keeping with the person’s family/ cultural background (Hyper- religiosity).
A
tendency to have a decreased interest in sexual matters (hypo-sexuality).
A tendency for anxiety and obsessionality to dwell on minor matters and to experience difficulty in terminating social intercourse (emotional viscosity or stickiness).
An increased interested in spiritual or ideational issues in the absence of pragmatic interests.
A tendency for anxiety and obsessionality to dwell on minor matters and to experience difficulty in terminating social intercourse (emotional viscosity or stickiness).
An increased interested in spiritual or ideational issues in the absence of pragmatic interests.
Turbulent emotions- irritability, agitation,
anxiety, restlessness, paranoia etc.
Mood swing
commonly spells of depression with occasional elation.
Psychotic and quasi psychotic phenomena, transient hallucinations, delusional thinking
etc. Occurring on and off.
These personality
traits have been described
mainly in people with chronic
temporal lobe epilepsy
that failed to respond to anti-epileptic drug therapy.
We must remember the vast
majority of people with temporal lobe epilepsy are honest, conscientious, sincere
and upright members of the community they live
in, these positive qualities
being aided perhaps
by the personality traits
described. Only in a small proportion
of people, usually those
with severe epilepsy do
these traits become
severe and/ or disabling
in some way therefore these are
probably the behavioral manifestations of the
pathology in the brain that
most often underlies
temporal lobe epilepsy,
sclerosis of a part of the
temporal lobe called the hippocampus
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