THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH EPILEPSY EMOTIONAL STATUS

Purpose – to study mental and emotional status of parents raising children with epilepsy.Materials and methods. The level of mental and emotional state in 23 parents in families where children with epilepsy are raising was studied. Control group consisted 29 parents raising healthy children. The following questionnaires were used in our study:Torontoalexithimia scale (TAS) and the assessment of the quality of life by SF-36 questionnaire.Results. Parents of children with epilepsy have showed a higher score on a scale of alexithimia and a higher chance of having an increased or high score on this test compared with parents of healthy children. Parents of children with epilepsy also have lower rates of almost all scales of SF-36, and a statistically significant lower score on the total mental health component.Conclusion. The parents of children with epilepsy mental and emotional state is exposed to disorders and this fact need to be considered when developing treatment tactics of pediatric patients with epilepsy