The physician should be ready to guide parents and family members through different emotional phases in the continuum of management. Often, the initial reaction to the diagnosis is one of extreme distress and helplessness about what can be done for the person with epilepsy. Patients with epilepsy and their families are often bewildered by the complexity of the manifestations of this disorder and its therapy. As treatment evolves, the patient should be encouraged to take a very active role in the medical therapy. Avoiding overprotection Parents often become overly protective of the child with epilepsy because of their own anxieties about harm coming to the child.
Rejection is an alternate and unfortunate parental or spousal response.
This should also be detected by the physician and dealt with immediately since the consequences can be devastating. In all these respects, the physician serves as liaison in the patient's course with epilepsy. It is essential that the treating physician search for and recognize the many psychosocial problems that can arise over months and years. Scheduled appointments are important, even if the patient appears to be doing extremely well. Including community support services and other professionals on the treatment team enhances therapy and enables the patient to cope with the challenging situations he or she will certainly encounter.