Causative factors and phenomenology of depression in EPILEPSY—A review

Abstract It is a known fact that depression is the one of the leading causes of years lived with disability and the fourth leading cause of disability-adjusted life-years worldwide. Depression is often under-recognized among patients of epilepsy due to lack of awareness of depressive symptoms. Due to improper management of depression in epileptic patients, it can interfere with treatment outcomes and hence can impair the quality of life. Undermanaged depression in epilepsy is generally associated with work absenteeism and direct medical costs. Electronic bibliographic databases like PubMed and Google Scholar were searched using the format “(depression, epilepsy and symptoms)”. Cross-linked searches were made taking the lead from key articles. Recent articles and those exploring the etiological factors & symptomatic presentation of depression were focused upon. The main purpose of this review was to study the causative association between epilepsy and depression and to discuss the varied symptomatic presentation.