EPILEPSY AS A PSYCHO-SOCIAL DISEASE: “HOW DO YOU HELP TEENAGERS COPE?” ‘IS THERE MUCH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COUNSELING TEENAGERS AND COUNSELING ADULTS WITH EPILEPSY?”
“I work mostly with children and teens, so I’m more likely to talk about them, but I counsel adults as well. Every person is an individual. Some are more mature than others. Sure, teens have their own hang-ups and you need to help them achieve independence and get over the hump from child to adult. While there are many similarities in counseling adults, it is sometimes more difficult, especially if they’ve had seizures since childhood. Too frequently, adequate counseling and education were not available to them. They’ve spent so many years with a poor self-image; reconstructing is more difficult than building it right in the first place. They need to learn how to take control of their epilepsy and also of their lives. That’s one of the reasons why I feel so strongly that children need to take ownership of their seizures at the earliest possible point.”
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