An Association Of Social Anxiety With Emotional Regulation In Patients With Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures(Pnes): A Correlation Study

Abstract

The exploratory study aimed to examine the correlation of two variables i.e. Social Anxiety and Emotion Regulation in the patients diagnosed with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, temporal lobe epilepsy, and social anxiety disorder using the State Social Anxiety Questionnaire (SSAQ) and State Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (SERQ), This patient group has not used this screening tool. Seventy-five patients were recruited in this study during the course of the study with their medical history, diagnosis, and encephalography. The patients were recruited from the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology – Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University of age between 18 to 60 with an average of 31.8 and standard deviation of 10.66. Further psychological assessments were conducted for further confirmation and complaints. The participants provided their responses on the questionnaire carrying demographic information and item set of both the administrative tools. Correlation calculated through Pearson’s method on patients with PNES patients was positively moderate i.e. 0.528 and patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy were slightly strong i.e. 0.754 similarly, patients with social anxiety disorder were positively moderate i.e. 0.547. The result analysis proved the presence of a positive moderate correlation between both the variables; Social Anxiety and Emotional Regulation in the psychogenic non-epileptic seizure patients and social anxiety disorder and slightly strong in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The findings suggest that psychosocial factors are more frequently linked to emotional over-control than to emotional lack of control.