3 The work by Monaco and colleagues has also been

influential in exploring these links.32 There has been a distinction made between the concept of traits (features) of a particular individual, or a state, arising from the role that a disease might play in a patient’s life.32 As Monaco and colleagues have pointed out, this analytical approach has been used with quantitative evaluation techniques that use personality psychometrics, but have been less used with neurological disorders.32 Several factors may impair the strength of conclusion from older studies. These comprise possible selection bias, the absence of systematic data, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and a reliance on self -rating scales without confirmation of validity, and finally an underuse of more prevalent psychometric tools.32 In their review of consecutive patients with TLE versus patients with nonfocal Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical idiopathic generalized (genetic) epilepsy (IGE), Monaco and colleagues studied subjects employing investigators who were fully trained in clinical psychology and who used a Structured Clinical Interview for SDM-IV Patient Version for OCD diagnosis and the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). They evaluated obsessionality as

a trait using a Minnesota TGX-221 molecular weight Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2) version addressing the Pt clinical scale and OBS content scales that contain evaluations of characteristics of compulsions, excessive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical doubts, obsessions, perfectionist personality traits, and fear. The particular OC features investigated included neutralizing, checking, doubting, ordering, hoarding, and washing. The OBS content scale identifies OCS and behaviors, “maladaptive ruminations,” and obsessive thoughts. These scales were supplemented

by the Beck Depression Inventory and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Y1 and Y2. Of the 164 enrolled subjects matched Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with 82 controls, AEDs, seizure control, age, gender, duration, EEG, and MRI among many items, were evaluated. TLE patients scored higher on the Pt and OBS scales than IGE and normal controls, unrelated to seizure control, severity of epilepsy, medication, or etiology. This indicated that obsessionality is a TLE trait in patients with a biological predisposition, with a prior psychiatric history. In turn, this would suggest that there is a link between mesolimbic regions and particular personality characteristics, a and link previously believed to exist in TLE patients. The study further supports the concept that involvement of particular brain areas, by the various epilepsy syndromes will be relevant to the appearance of specific psychopathological expression and psychiatric conditions. Of note was the fact that the results in the normal controls resembled those of IGE patients, differentiating these two groups from TLE. The study also revealed that almost 15% of TLE patients had OCD.