Three patients with concomitant panic attacks and seizure disorder: possible clues to the neurology of anxiety.

The authors present the cases of three patients in whom panic attacks and epilepsy appeared together. These cases illustrate various possible relationships between panic attacks and epilepsy. These relationships include panic attacks representing the aura of a complex partial seizure, panic attacks representing a manifestation of interictal behavior change, and panic attacks and seizure coexisting independently. The authors conclude that exploration of the mechanisms operating in unusual cases like these may provide a vehicle for clarifying the neurobiological basis of anxiety.