Social Problems and Self Esteem among Male and Female Patients with Seizure Disorders-A Comparative Study

Epilepsy, a chronic brain disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures, affects people of all ages. Epilepsy affects every sphere of the individual's life, cutting across age, gender and social differences. Major areas of education, employment, marriage, child rearing and social functioning are often affected and the overall quality of life is hampered due to the uncertain nature of the illness and its consequences¹. The aim of the study is to identify the social problems and self esteem of patients with seizure disorders and to compare the social problems and self esteem of male and female patients with seizure disorders.

A comparative study was conducted in 180 patients with seizure disorders attending a tertiary care setting, Department of Neuro Medicine, Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. 90 male and 90 female patients are consecutively selected and the social problems were assessed with an interview schedule and self esteem inventory is used to assess the self esteem.

The overall social problems were assessed in 4 domains-social life, marriage life, employment life and education. The score of male and female patients were compared, which shows that there is significant difference between male and (χ²=43.214, p<0.001). The female patients had comparatively more problems with marriage life. The severity of problems inother domains shows that males and females had same problems with social life, employment life and education.