Effects of epilepsy and anti-epileptic drugs on mental health as measured by the DAS Scale
Authors
Keely, Hannah
Issue Date
2021
Degree
BA (Hons) in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
The present experiment examines if epilepsy and anti-epileptic drugs influence a patient’s mental health as measured by the DAS Scale. The following experiment is a quantitative experiment using both the DAS Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1994) and an altered version of the QOLIE-10 (Cramer, et al., 1996). 305 participants took part with 172 participants with epilepsy and 133 participants without epilepsy. This study found that there was a significant difference in DASS scores between these two groups with no significant differences being found between the different medication groups. There was a significant positive correlation between QOLIE-10 scores and DASS scores among those with epilepsy as well as a significant negative correlation between length of diagnosis and DASS scores, showing higher DASS scores among those diagnosed for less time. This study has shown differences in mental health among those with epilepsy and those without, with further research needed in relation to different medication groups.