Epilepsy stigma in Saudi Arabia: The roles of mind–body dualism, supernatural beliefs, and religiosity

Improving public stigma, sociocultural beliefs, and social identity for people with epilepsy in the Aseer region of Saudi Arabia

“…The ability of PWE to practice daily activities, such as driving a car, has been a considerable issue globally, where the challenge is to find a balance between viability and safety exists [65] , [66] . Although it is a primary concern, a large proportion of respondents did believe in the feasibility of PWE to drive, which is greater than recently reported in Saudi Arabia [13] , [15] , [56] and consistent with a study in Taif City [41] . On the other hand, only one-third of the respondents thought that patients could participate in sporting activities.…”

“…The proportion suggesting spirituality as a primary focus of management was much lower compared with results obtained from other cities in Saudi Arabia [13] , [18] , [19] , [36] , [37] , [39] , [40] , [56] , sub-Saharan African countries [57] , UAE [43] , [44] , and Kuwait [42] . Research has indicated that prayer practice, which is one of the major aspects of Muslims worship, plays a significant role in therapeutic modalities [58] .…”

“…On the other hand, some misconceptions and myths still exist in the community. It is generally believed that epilepsy is a result of God’s test or punishment, demonic possession (evil spirits), magical works, envy, or an evil eye [13] , [18] , [19] , [56] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] . Unfortunately, these thoughts are of cultural and religious connection with the community [38] , [60] , which makes them surprisingly that they were also popular even among educated individuals [39] .…”

Detrimental effect of antiepileptic drugs dose in pediatric children with epilepsy in Saudi Arabia

“…[ 3 ] Globally, the epilepsy incidence rate in infancy (1–12 months of age) is 144 per 100,000 person-years and 58 per 100,000 for 1 to 10 years. [ 4 ] In Saudi Arabia, studies on epilepsy are limited, and most of the evidence was given by hospitals, [ 5 ] which may perhaps not be representative of the real prevalence of the disease. In one community- based study, the prevalence of epilepsy in Saudi Arabia was observed to be similar when compared with Western countries (6.24 per 1000 people).…”

Quality of life, fatigue and seizure severity in people living with epilepsy in a selected Nigerian population

“…Epilepsy, a chronic seizure disorder requiring long term health care contact, is one of the most non-infectious neurological disease in developing countries with serious physical, psychological, social and economic consequences for affected persons, families and society in general [1][2][3]. It affects about 50 million people worldwide with majority living in developing countries like Nigeria that has a prevalence ranges from 5.3 to 37 per one thousand persons [3,4].…”