Treating Pseudoseizures and Related Behaviors in an Adult Male with an Intractable Seizure Disorder

Abstract

AD, a 42-year-old male diagnosed with an intractable seizure disorder, profound mental retardation, and numerous medical diagnoses, manifested pseudoseizures and related behaviors. To reduce the frequency of these behaviors, treatment procedures were developed and implemented. In conjunction with direct care staff members, target behaviors were identified and defined: pseudoseizures, falling, and sliding from chair. The behavioral treatment applied combined antecedent control and a progressive intervention approach using verbal cueing, visually checking, tactile attention, and edible reinforcement. Data collection occurred over an 18-month period. Results show an increase in the number of days occurring without charted behaviors within consecutive 28-day reporting periods. Data collection consisted of 7,068 observations of AD's behaviors. This allowed correlations to be conducted with significant correlations existing between pseudoseizures and falling ( r = .59) and chair sliding and positive observations ( r = —.63). t tests were computed resulting in significant differences between AD's target behaviors and pseudoseizures.