A Comparative Study of Personality Profile of Epileptic Adolescents

Abstract

Epilepsy is a very recurrent condition that may occur among individuals of all ages, sex, and races. It is a serious neurological disorder described by spontaneous recurrence of unprovoked seizures. Many studies focus on psychiatric and behaviour disorders; personality is less frequently studied in epilepsy. The current investigation was conducted to examine whether epileptic and normal subjects differ in their personality profile. A total of 140 (epileptic group=70, normal group=70) completed self-report measure of personality, i,e., the NEOFFI-3 (John, Naumann, & Soto, 2008). Results show that the groups differ in two personality traits. The epileptic patients scored significantly higher than normal individuals Neuroticism [F (1/138) =10.755, p<.001] and Openness to experience [F (1/138) =6.208, p<.01]. Result further indicated that the groups scored almost the same on Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness personality dimensions. These results suggest that people suffering from epilepsy tend to be sad, moody, anxious, and emotionally unstable. At the same time, they tend to be curious, eager to learn new things, and enjoy new experiences.