Personality and psychosocial functioning before and after temporal lobectomy
Abstract
Patients with unilateral right (RT, n = 22) and left (LT, n = 22) medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) were evaluated before and after anterior temporal lobectomy with the MMPI, Temporal Lobe Personality Inventory (Bear and Fedio, 1977), Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and a neurobehavioral function and activities of daily living rating scale. A control group (CTL, n = 20) of TLE patients who did not undergo surgery was tested twice at a similar interval. Clinical variables such as age of seizure onset, preoperative seizure frequency, postoperative seizure outcome, carbamazepine dosage and level, and degree of preoperative neuropsychological impairment did not predict global psychosocial outcome after surgery. Reductions in reported psychopathology on post-testing were observed for all subjects, including controls. This finding may be attributable to the statistical phenomenon of regression toward the mean. Elevations on MMPI Scales L and K increased significantly for RT relative to LT and CTL after surgery, suggesting greater defensiveness and denial in RT patients. RT also showed greater decreases than LT and CTL on the TLPI and STAI-State scale. These findings provide partial support for hypotheses regarding hemispheric asymmetries in emotional functioning in TLE patients, and demonstrate the importance of a non-operated control group in surgical TLE studies.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Powley, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Physiological psychology
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