Focus Laterality and Interface Between Depression and Anxiety in Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

The aim of the current study was to evaluate an interaction between anxiety and depression in persons with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in relation to foci lateralization. Ninety-four patients with temporal lobe epilepsy were included in the study (25 cases with left-sided focus activity, 25 cases with right-sided focus activity, and 44 patients with bilateral foci activity). The Hopkins Symptoms Check List (SCL-90) scale was used for psychopathological assessment. Pearson product moment correlations between nine constructs of SCL-90 were calculated separately for left-sided, right-sided, and bilateral foci groups. On the final stage, forward stepwise regression analysis was used for left-sided, right-sided, and bilateral foci groups separately. As dependent variables, the SCL-90 constructs of depression and anxiety were used. The obtained findings have shown the existence of close correlation between constructs of depression and anxiety in the right-sided focus and bilateral foci TLE patients, whereas the correlation was less expressed in the left-sided focus group. Regression analysis revealed the dependence of depression on anxiety and vice versa dependence of anxiety on depression in the right-sided focus group, but not the left-sided focus group. Depression and anxiety seem to represent one more solid syndrome in TLE patients with right-sided focus activity and rather two independent syndromes in TLE patients with the left-sided focus activity

The Personality Traits as Risk Factors for the Development of Cognitive Impairment and Affective Symptomatology in Patients with COVID-19: The Pilot Study

The current pilot study has been carried out in order to find the possible relationships between premorbid personality traits and cognitive impairments and affective symptomatology in patients recovered from COVID-19. Thirty subjects with so-called post-COVID-19 syndrome have been included into study. The diagnosis of COVID-19 has been previously confirmed by laboratory tests in each person. The control group included 30 healthy persons. For the assessment of depression and anxiety, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale has been used. For the assessment of cognitive impairment, Verbal Fluency test, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test, and Wisconsin Card Sorting test (WCST) were used. The Munich Personality Scale and Toronto Alexithymia Scale were used for the assessment of premorbid personality. The multiple stepwise regression analysis has been used for the assessment of relationships between premorbid personality constructs and cognitive tests results and affective and anxiety symptomatology. Obtained results have shown that Frustration Tolerance test decreased the number of wrong answers in WCST and reduced the latency of the answers with positive reinforcement and also reduced the depression level and by that had the positive effects. On the other hand, Extraversion reduced the score of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test and increased the percentage of perseverative wrong answers in WCST-2 test and by that had negative effect on cognitive functions. Similarly, constructs of Adherence to Social Norms and Tendencies to Isolation both reduced the final MOCA score and by that predisposed to post-COVID-19 syndrome development. Esoteric tendencies construct reduced the latencies of answers with positive and negative reinforcement in WCST-3 and WCST-4 and by that had protective influence on cognitive functions. Alexithymia score correlated positively with Depression, while Neuroticism correlated positively with Anxiety

The Role of Personal and Immune Variables in the Development of Co-Morbid Affective and Related Psychopathological Syndromes in Partial Epilepsies in Relation to Handedness

The current study was performed in order to find the influence of premorbid personality traits and immune variables on psychopathological constructs including affective and related syndromes in patients with epilepsy separately for right-handers and left-handers. Ninety two patients with epilepsy have been included into the study. There were 85 right-handers and 7 left-handers. Assessment of psychopathological status of patients has been performed by using of Symptom Check List −90 (SCL-90) and the Hamilton rating scales for Depression and Anxiety. The Munich Personality test (MPT) was used for the assessment of personality trait. The amounts of different lymphocytes clusters were calculated. The multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to find the relationships between personality, immunity variables and affective and related psychopathological syndromes separately for right-handers and left-handers.In the right-handers significant relationships between the Neuroticism level (MPT) and value of HAM-D, Depression construct (SCL-90), Anxiety (SCL-90), Obsessions (SCL-90) and Phobia construct (SCL-90) have been obtained. In the left-handers stochastically significant correlations between Regulatory Index (CD4/CD8) with Depression construct (SCL-90) and Obsession construct (SCL-90) were revealed. Premorbid personality traits determine the affective, anxiety, obsessive and phobia syndromes strictly in right-handed patients with epilepsy, while immunity variables (CD4/CD) quite the contrary predispose to affective and obsessive syndromes strictly in left-handed patients