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Clinical Electroencephalography pp 707–714Cite as

Psychiatric Disorders

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Abstract

EEG is not considered an essential diagnostic tool in psychiatry. Its role in this field is mainly aimed at the differential diagnosis between Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES) and Epileptic Seizures (ES) or to the detection of epileptic comorbidities. Moreover, growing interest in EEG and other neurophysiological techniques has been demonstrated by researchers to improve evidence concerning the structural origin of some psychiatric disorders.

With regard to EEG abnormalities observed in non-epileptic psychiatric population, they may be similar to those as in healthy people and most of them referrable to the pharmacological effect of drugs acting on the Central Nervous System (CNS) that could interfere with brain bioelectrical activity.

In this chapter, we will analyze main EEG changes that clinicians and technicians could encounter during an EEG recording, which are though often requested without a real valid reason in patients with pyschiatric diseases such as in depressive, bipolar and related disorders, anxiety, schizophrenia, and in children/adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity and autism spectrum disorders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Chiara Davassi & Oriano Mecarelli

  2. Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Policlinico Umberto I, Rome, Italy

    Patrizia Pulitano

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  1. Chiara Davassi
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  2. Patrizia Pulitano
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  3. Oriano Mecarelli
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Correspondence to Oriano Mecarelli .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Oriano Mecarelli

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Davassi, C., Pulitano, P., Mecarelli, O. (2019). Psychiatric Disorders. In: Mecarelli, O. (eds) Clinical Electroencephalography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04573-9_44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04573-9_44

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04572-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04573-9

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