Psychosocial issues

1
Psychosocial issues
2
Psychological and social implications of
epilepsy can be more of a problem to someone than
the seizures themselves
3
Stigma

• The beliefs and reactions of others
• The beliefs of the person themselves

4
Loss of self esteem and self image

• How is that persons life affected by the
  diagnosis?
• What restrictions will there be for them?
• What losses will they experience?

5
6 stages of loss

• Shock
• Anger
• Denial
• Guilt/blame
• Resolution
• Acceptance

6
Acceptance

• People who are finding it difficult to accept
  their situation may not take their medication as
  prescribed
• Once someone has accepted their situation they
  can develop effective coping strategies

7

• These emotional reactions are often not just
  experienced by the person with epilepsy but also
  by those close to them.
• In the case of a child being diagnosed, the
  parents may be emotionally affected as much if
  not more than the child.

8

• People who have infrequent seizures sometimes
  find it harder to psychologically adjust to
  having epilepsy and can go through the
  bereavement response each time they have a
  seizure.

9
If you were diagnosed with epilepsy tomorrow

• What areas of your life would be affected?
• Who would you tell and not tell and why?
• How would you feel?
• What questions would you have?
• Where would you go for the answers to your
  questions?
• Who else would be affected by your diagnosis?