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Psychopathology of People with Mental Handicap and Epilepsy III: Personality Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

S. Deb  and
David Hunter
S. Deb*
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Aberdeen, Woodlands Hospital, Craigton Road, Aberdeen AB1 9PR
David Hunter
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Aberdeen
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

A group of 75 mildly to moderately mentally handicapped people with epilepsy, resident in both a hospital and the community, were studied together with an individually matched control group of non-epileptic patients. Their carers were interviewed to gather information for two observer-rated personality questionnaires, the Standardised Assessment of Personality (SAP) and the T-L Personality Behaviour Inventory. The two groups were compared with respect to the prevalence rates of various personalities. An abnormal personality score according to the SAP schedule was reported in 26% (n = 39) of the cohort, of which 28 (18.6% of the cohort) were personality disorders. A diagnosis of SAP abnormal personality was made in 46% of the in-patients and 6.5% of the community-based population. Of the cohort, 15% had an abnormal personality score according to the T-L schedule. No statistically significant difference emerged between the epileptic and the non-epileptic groups in the prevalence of either the SAP or T-L personality.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 159 , Issue 6 , December 1991 , pp. 830 - 834
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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