Intelligence of Male Non-Institutionalized Epileptics of Military Age

Abstract

The intelligence of epileptics has been studied by many investigators. Some of these studies were confined to children, some to patients in institutions, others to out-patients and a few to private patients. Some studies included institutionalized and non-institutionalized patients with no effort made to consider the two groups separately. The out-patient material was assumed to represent the best cross section of epileptics, but as Somerfeld-Ziskind and Ziskind (1) point out, patients who are not helped by the treatment tend to stop attending clinics. This bias in the material is reflected in the wide variations of the results; for example there is a range in the reported mean I.Qs. of from 113.5 to 78. There appeared to be a definite need for a study based on a wider group, representing all types of epileptics. Examination of whole sections of the population, carried out during the recent war, afford a unique opportunity for this study, for the group was absolute, and there were no selective factors except sex, age and institutionalization.