May depression be a form of epilepsy? Some remarks on the bioelectric nature of depression

SummaryEpilepsy and depression (or, from a broader point of view, affective disorders) are formally two separate disorders classified among the groups of neurological and psychiatric diseases respectively. A precise analysis of the possible etiology, clinical picture and the applied therapy allows for identification of numerous common elements of these two disorders and similarities between them. It might seem an exaggeration to postulate that depressive disorders are a behavioral mask or form of seizure disturbances (epilepsy). Nowadays the incorrect EEG activity detected in the course of depression is recognized either as accidental abnormality or treated as an undesirable side effect of the administered forms of antidepressant therapy. While biochemical and metabolic mechanisms of occurrence of depressive disorders are fairly well described and accepted, studies on the “electric” background of depression seem necessary.