Distinguishing features of pseudocomplex partial seizures.

The authors identify common features in the clinical presentations of three patients whose pseudoseizures mimicked complex partial seizures. All three had suffered the recent traumatic loss of a significant love object, and all manifested unconscious feelings of guilt and the use of defense mechanisms of denial, dissociation, introjection, identification, and symbolization. The authors explore the diagnostic, treatment, and etiological implications of these findings.