Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction for Patients
Chapter 2 Session 1: Making the Decision to Begin the Process of
Taking Control
Chapter 3 Session 2: Getting Support
Chapter 4 Session 3: Deciding about your Medication Therapy
Chapter 5 Session 4: Learning to Observe your Triggers
Chapter 6 Session 5: Channeling Negative Emotions into Productive
Outlets
Chapter 7 Session 6: Relaxation Training
Chapter 8 Session 7: Identifying your Pre-seizure Aura
Chapter 9 Session 8: Dealing with External Life Stresses
Chapter 10 Session 9: Dealing with Internal Issues and
Conflicts
Chapter 11 Session 10: Enhancing Personal Wellness
Chapter 12 Session 11: Other Seizure Symptoms
Chapter 13 Final reading: Taking Control: An On-Going Process
Appendix I Biofeedback: Experiencing the Sensation of the Brain
Changing Itself
Appendix II YOGA by Rosa Michaelis
Appendix III Meditation
About the Authors
Joel M. Reiter, MD, is Associate Clinical Professor and Director of
Neurology Training, Emeritus, at UCSF - Santa Rosa Family Practice
Residency. He conducted a private practice in Neurology for 35
years, devoting clinical and research time to investigating
behavioral interventions that improve seizure control and quality
of life for individuals with epilepsy. He is boarded in Neurology
and received degrees from Harvard, NYU, and UCSF. In 1981, he
and Dr. Donna Andrews founded the Andrews/Reiter Epilepsy Research
Program. He subsequently published Epilepsy: A New Approach and
other pioneering work; lectured internationally on neurobehavioral
management of
epilepsy; and served as the sole neurologist in Bhutan.
Donna Andrews, PhD, is Director of Therapy Research at the
Andrews/Reiter Epilepsy Research Program. At age 18, she contracted
viral encephalitis followed by complex partial seizures refractory
to multiple antiepileptic medications. She had a unique insight
that enabled her to achieve complete seizure control. She utilized
this experience to develop treatment methods that allowed her to
work effectively with thousands of patients. She and Dr. Reiter
researched these methods and
describe them in Taking Control of Your Seizures: Workbook. Dr.
Andrews has a Master's in Rehabilitation Administration from the
University of San Francisco; a Ph.D. in psychology from the SFPSP;
and travels the globe
to lecture and treat patients.
Charlotte Reiter, FNP, earned her B.S. in Nursing and Family Nurse
Practitioner certification from SSU where she was the first nursing
graduate to be chosen as a commencement speaker. She brought skills
honed developing patient education materials for UCSF's Family
Practice residency program to writing and editing Taking Control of
Your Epilepsy: A Workbook for Patients and Professionals. As a
College FNP at Santa Rosa Junior College, she coordinated with the
Enabling
department to provide services for students with epilepsy and
developmental disabilities. She edits publications for the
Andrews/Reiter Epilepsy Research Program and writes/edits for the
Tarayana Foundation, a Bhutanese
nonprofit.
W. Curt LaFrance, Jr., MD, MPH, is Director of Neuropsychiatry and
Behavioral Neurology at Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) and Assistant
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Alpert Medical School,
Brown University. He is the neuropsychiatrist for the RIH
Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and a faculty member of the Brown
Institute for Brain Science. He studied at Wake Forest University
(BA in psychology), Medical College of Georgia (MD), and Brown
University (MPH). He trained in
Brown's combined residency in neurology and psychiatry and is
double boarded. His research is in neuropsychiatric aspects of
epilepsy, somatoform disorders, and Traumatic Brain Injury. He is
co-editor of Gates and
Rowan's Nonepileptic Seizures.
"Years ago, Reiter and Andrews developed a multifaceted behavioral
approach for the treatment of epilepsy, which was modified and
appears to be particularly effective in the treatment of
nonepileptic seizures. This Therapist Guide by LaFrance and Wincze
and the accompanying Workbook, derived from the original Reiter and
Andrews program are, together, a unique and sorely needed
contribution. For the first time, there is a truly
comprehensive
outline for the behavioral management of epilepsy and nonepileptic
seizures that should not only be valuable for the treatment of
individual patients, but also serve as a basis for focused clinical
research." --Jerome
Engel, Jr., MD, PhD, Jonathan Sinay Distinguished Professor of
Neurology, Neurobiology, and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences,
and Director, Seizure Disorder Center, David Geffen School of
Medicine at UCLA
"Understanding the distinctions between epileptic and non-epileptic
seizures has presented a medical conundrum for over two thousand
years. Dr. LaFrance and his colleagues have taken a grip on these
difficult subjects. Not only have they taken on the responsibility
of setting up treatment programs, they have embarked upon
controlled trials, at last confirming the effectiveness of
psychological interventions. This Therapist Guide and Workbook
for patients are unique in the complex field of neuropsychiatry.
These books serve to emphasize what can be done for people with all
kinds of seizures and lay out a management strategy which will set
a gold standard,
especially for people with non-epileptic seizures." --Michael
Trimble, MD, Professor Emeritus of Behavioural Neurology, Institute
of Neurology, University of London
"Overall, Taking Control of Your Seizures is an important update to
the previous edition, as it is more broadly focused and
acknowledges the limitations of traditional medical models. It
should be highly recommended not just to patients, but also to
their families and caregivers." --Allan Bernstein, MD, The Magazine
of the Sonoma County Medical Association
"The core strength of the Workbook is that it represents the most
comprehensively developed informed cognitive behavioral approach to
epilepsy available and benefits from 30 years of experience
providing epilepsy-specific counseling and use. It is delivered in
a packaged step-by-step method that is 'turn-key' for an office
practice... This book is unique and fills a space that is being
filled in social media by anecdotal guidance from patients. This
book is a
major contribution to the field of clinical epilepsy care,
providing a validated treatment method that can be administered by
a variety of providers... It is a clinical tool appropriate for
any
healthcare provider who wants to help their patient obtain a higher
state of wellness and develop a patient-centric care model focused
on what matters most to patients themselves. I highly recommend
this book to any healthcare providers treating patients with
epilepsy or NES."
--Epilepsy & Behavior
"This workbook and therapist guide provide welcome resources for
managing nonepileptic seizures. They deserve wide reading and
application by psychiatric and neurological clinicians who
encounter patients with this disorder."
--The American Journal of Psychiatry
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