Taking Control of Your Seizures

The primary aim of Treating Nonepileptic Seizures: Therapist Guide is to equip physicians, psychologists, therapists, nurses, and other practitioners with a validated, step-by-step treatment for psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (NES) that can improve the lives of patients with this disabling disorder. Patients with NES frequently present in neurology, psychiatry, psychology, and emergency departments. The disorder has been documented in the medical literature for centuries, and much is known about the phenomenology, seizure characteristics, psychiatric comorbidities, neuropsychological testing, and psychosocial aspects in NES. However, until recently, much less was known about the effective treatments of patients with psychogenic NES.

This intervention provides guidance for clinicians in treating patients with NES and is designed to be used in conjunction with the patient workbook,Taking Control of Your Seizures. Session by session, the Workbook facilitates communication between treatment providers and individual patients with seizures. The authors' clinical experience with epilepsy and NES and research in developing the treatment approach for seizures directly informed the treatment model described. Many patients treated with the intervention have demonstrated improvements in seizures, symptoms, and quality of life.

Joel M. Reiter, MD, is Associate Clinical Professor and Director of Neurology Training, Emeritus, at UCSF - Santa Rosa Family Practice Residency. He conducted a private practice in Neurology for 35 years, devoting clinical and research time to investigating behavioral interventions that improve seizure control and quality of life for individuals with epilepsy. He is boarded in Neurology and received degrees from Harvard, NYU, and UCSF. In 1981, he and Dr. Donna Andrews founded the Andrews/Reiter Epilepsy Research Program. He subsequently published Epilepsy: A New Approachand other pioneering work; lectured internationally on neurobehavioral management of epilepsy; and served as the sole neurologist in Bhutan.

Donna Andrews, PhD, is Director of Therapy Research at the Andrews/Reiter Epilepsy Research Program. At age 18, she contracted viral encephalitis followed by complex partial seizures refractory to multiple antiepileptic medications. She had a unique insight that enabled her to achieve complete seizure control. She utilized this experience to develop treatment methods that allowed her to work effectively with thousands of patients. She and Dr. Reiter researched these methods and describe them in Taking Control of Your Seizures: Workbook. Dr. Andrews has a Master's in Rehabilitation Administration from the University of San Francisco; a Ph.D. in psychology from the SFPSP; and travels the globe to lecture and treat patients.

Charlotte Reiter, FNP, earned her B.S. in Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner certification from SSU where she was the first nursing graduate to be chosen as a commencement speaker. She brought skills honed developing patient education materials for UCSF's Family Practice residency program to writing and editing Taking Control of Your Epilepsy: A Workbook for Patients and Professionals. As a College FNP at Santa Rosa Junior College, she coordinated with the Enabling department to provide services for students with epilepsy and developmental disabilities. She edits publications for the Andrews/Reiter Epilepsy Research Program and writes/edits for the Tarayana Foundation, a Bhutanese nonprofit.

W. Curt LaFrance, Jr., MD, MPH, is Director of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology at Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Alpert Medical School, Brown University. He is the neuropsychiatrist for the RIH Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and a faculty member of the Brown Institute for Brain Science. He studied at Wake Forest University (BA in psychology), Medical College of Georgia (MD), and Brown University (MPH). He trained in Brown's combined residency in neurology and psychiatry and is double boarded. His research is in neuropsychiatric aspects of epilepsy, somatoform disorders, and Traumatic Brain Injury. He is co-editor ofGates and Rowan's Nonepileptic Seizures.