Questionnaire study of primary care physicians’ referral patterns and perceptions of patients with epilepsy in a Brazilian city, 2005

Abstract

This study was carried out in April 2005 in downtown Niterói, a city with a population of about 459 000 inhabitants located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The quality of life in Niterói is considered one of the best among the 5 600 Brazilian cities, according to the United Nation standards and the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) (4).

Home-Based Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for the Treatment of Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Clinical Trial

“…Thus, health interventions have a significant impact on “illness” in this population, partially explaining the observed placebo effect. The frequent interaction between the participant and the researcher may have acted as a small social intervention on harmful environmental factors such as isolation and social and relationship problems ( Müller and Gomes, 2007 ). There are many types of social intervention that are effective for the improvement of psychiatric disorders ( Nagy and Moore, 2017 ).…”

“…With regard to social adjustment, difficulty in interpersonal relationships was relatively common; 42% of patients reported having only few or no friends, 27% of female patients considered their crises to be responsible for the difficulties of family life, 40% of the patients reported that they did not have an affective relationship, and 45% reported having difficulty in establishing this type of relationship. Due to the disease itself, 10% of patients reported being involved in legal disputes ( Müller and Gomes, 2007 ). The different social relationship variables, such as social integration, social support and negative interaction, are associated with health outcomes ( Cohen, 2004 ; Uchino, 2006 ; Aragão et al, 2018 ).…”