Abstract
Objective
Humans use a complex system of protective cognitive biases or “positive illusions” that foster emotional well‐being and subjective quality of life. This study examined the role of positive illusions in patient adjustment to drug‐resistant epilepsy and its surgical treatment.
Methods
One hundred fifty people participated, including 93 focal epilepsy patients being evaluated for surgery and 57 sociodemographically matched healthy controls. We purpose‐built computer software, “Living With Epilepsy,” to assess the impact of positive illusions on patient perceptions of their current life, and administered well‐validated questionnaires of depression (Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy), anxiety (Patient Health Questionnaire for Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 items), and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL; Epilepsy Surgery Inventory–55) before and at 3 and 12 months after surgery.
Results
We identified two patient groups: those with “high positive illusions” (53%) about their epilepsy and those with “low positive illusions” (47%), with no differences between sociodemographic or epilepsy variables (all P > .05). Before epilepsy surgery, patients with high positive illusions exhibited fewer symptoms of depression (P < .001) and anxiety (P = .002) and higher HRQOL (P ≥ .002 ≤ 0.046) than those with low positive illusions. A subset of patients proceeded with surgery (n = 34 at 3 months; n = 26 at 12 months). They showed that the beneficial impact of having high positive illusions re‐emerged 12 months postsurgery, with patients reporting lower depression and anxiety (P = .006) and elevated HRQOL (P = .036) compared to low positive illusions patients, independent of seizure outcome (P > .05).
Significance
These findings point to an active psychological process in drug‐resistant patients, where approximately half generate strong positive illusions about their life with epilepsy, maintaining their mood and subjective well‐being. Those who use this psychological mechanism show better adjustment 12 months postsurgery independent of seizure outcome, providing a potential new target for psychological treatment in patients with epilepsy.
MAR