Fear responses in patients with epilepsy.

Abstract

Ictal fear was found equally with left- and right-sided temporal lobe foci, suggesting that basic components of fear may be bilaterally represented. With regard to interictal fear, patients with left-sided foci reported more fear of social and sexual situations, but not of animals and physical injury, compared with other groups. Men with foci in the right temporal lobe reported less fear than men with left-sided foci. It is conceivable that the two hemisphere contribute differently in the cognitive elaboration of fear responses. Alternatively, differential patterns of self-report of fearfulness may be secondary responses to cognitive or sensorimotor loss. Finally, the present study not only demonstrates differences between right and left temporal lobe epileptics, but also between these groups and those with and without other CNS dysfunction.