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Epilepsy, aggression, and criminal responsibility

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.47.7.762

Although epilepsy-related violence can occur, accounts of criminal behavior caused by epilepsy remain rare and unconvincing. The authors describe a case of apparent postictal aggression, resulting in felony assault charges, by a patient who had nocturnal complex partial seizures, followed by what appeared to be sleepwalking and periods of postictal wandering and confusion.

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