Psychosocial impairments in children with epilepsy depend on the side of the focus

This article explores the idea that epileptic activity may interfere with psychosocial functions and development in children. In an adult population with epilepsy, left hemispheric seizure focus predicts worse psychosocial functioning. The developmental aspects of these disturbances require further studies. We studied self-report measures of cognitive (locus of control) and emotional (Beck Youth Inventories of Emotional and Social Impairment) functions in 30 children with partial epilepsy (6–15 years) and 60 healthy matched controls. Multivariate statistics revealed significant lateralization effects, with left-sided foci (n = 15) leading to more external locus of control. Opposite to adults, the children with right hemispheric foci (n = 15) exhibited more emotional impairments (anger, disruptive behavior) than the left hemispheric group. The cognitive and emotional dysfunctions in epilepsy may result from the interaction of focus lateralization and brain development. The cognitive disturbances beginning in childhood may lead to the stronger emotional impairments observed in adults with left hemispheric seizures.