Making sense: Brain trauma, epileptic seizures and personal meaning

SUMMARY

Although epilepsy is a relatively common condition, psychoanalytic thinkers seem to have written little on either the psychological factors which are sometimes implicated in the aetiology of seizure events, or on the emotional ramifications for the person living with the experience of having seizures. This paper outlines a few issues and ideas concerned with the psychodynamics of epilepsy, and then discusses some aspects of clinical work with two patients who were working to understand themselves in the light of a seizure condition. For each of them, the exploration of fantasies arising from their experience of themselves as having damaged brains enabled them to make some sense of personal events and feelings. This paper is a grouping of ideas related to some of the emotional aspects of living with brain trauma and seizures. It is intended to encourage and contribute to thinking in this area of clinical work.