Sexual Behaviour of Epileptics- A Biopsychosocial Study in Rural South India

Abstract

BACKGROUNDEpilepsy related changes in sexual behaviour include hyposexuality, hypersexuality and paraphilias. Like in any other physical illness, psychological factors and ethnic health beliefs modulate the expression of sexuality. Patients with epilepsy during their treatment were focused only about their frequency of seizures, effective control of recurrence and prophylactic treatment of future episodes. Their personal, social and occupational functioning capacity are disregarded and their psychological reactions are not given prominence in clinical management. Sexuality being a suppressed issue culturally, impact of physical and psychological issues concerning sexual behaviour is ignored.The present study is concerned with understanding the dynamic interplay of various factors in the manifest of sexual behaviour of the epileptics.