Obstacles in the treatment of common psychiatric comorbidities in patients with epilepsy: What is wrong with this picture?

The aim of this special issue is to highlight a major problem that plagues the management of patients with epilepsy (PWE): the failure to identify and treat relatively frequent psychiatric comorbidities, in particular, depression and anxiety disorders. The causes are multiple, starting from the neurologists' failure to investigate the existence of these common comorbidities during the initial evaluation or even throughout the course of treatment of these patients. Does this phenomenon reflect a lack of curiosity, ignorance, or both? The problem is compounded by the limited or lack of access to treatment once the psychiatric comorbidity has been identified. This special issue tries to analyze the causes of this very serious problem that not only has serious implications in the comprehensive management of PWE but also raises serious questions on the lack of communication between neurologists and psychiatrists… truly a "bizarre phenomenon". This article is part of the Special Issue "Obstacles of Treatment of Psychiatric Comorbidities in Epilepsy".