TURKIYE KLINIKLERI TIP BILIMLERI DERGISI, vol.30, no.1, pp.343-347, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
Psychosis in epilepsy can be categorized in relation to seizures or the treatment: ictal psychosis, postictal pyschosis, interictal (chronic) psychosis, "forced normalization" or "alternative psychosis", and de novo psychosis following epilepsy surgery. A schizophrenic condition with permanent psychotic symptoms that occurs in between the seizures or that has no direct relation with the seizures is termed as "interictal pychosis". Such definitions as "schizophrenia-like psychosis of epilepsy" or "chronic (interictal) psychosis" are also proposed for interictal psychosis. The concept of "forced normalization" is described as the decrease or complete normalization of electroencephalographic abnormalities present during the seizures in a patient with epilepsy, concurrent with the onset of psychotic signs. This concept, also called as "alternative psychosis" or "paradoxic normalization", has recently attracted more attention. The psychiatric disorders reported are mostly psychoses. Frequently, this phenomenon of psychosis takes the form of a brief psychotic disorder. Chronic psychosis is a rarely seen condition. In this report, a case with chronic (interictal) psychosis and comorbid phenomenon of forced normalization has been presented.