The Idea Of Epilepsy

Preface
Section 1. The voyage of the good ship epilepsy:
Introduction:
Prologue: a note on the concept of epilepsy
Section 2. 'A plague upon your epileptic visage'
1. 1860–1914 the birth of modern epilepsy
2. 1914–1945 epilepsy in the age of catastrophe
3. 1945–1970 epilepsy and the new world order
4. 1970–1995 epilepsy in a globalised world
5. 1995–2020 the epilepsy floods are too recent
Section 3. Epilepsy: The paradigm of the suffering of both body and soul in disease
Epilogue: The separation of the wheat from the chaff
Appendix 1. The epilepsy balance sheet
Appendix 2. Obsolete or failed theories and treatments
Appendix 3. The international league against epilepsy
Glossary of scientific and medical terms in the field of epilepsy
Bibliography
Index of names
Index.

Epilepsy has a fascinating history. To the medical historian Oswei Temkin it was 'the paradigm of the suffering of both body and soul in disease'. It is justifiably considered a window on brain function. And yet its story is more than simply a medical narrative, but one influenced also by scientific, societal and personal themes. Written for a medical and non-medical readership, this book describes the major developments in epilepsy between 1860–2020, a turbulent era in which science dominated as an explanatory model, medical theories and practices steered an erratic course, and societal attitudes and approaches to epilepsy fluctuated dramatically. In the middle of this maelstrom was the person with epilepsy at the mercy of social attitudes and legislation, and at times harmed as well as helped by medicine and science. So entangled is the history that intriguingly, as an entity, epilepsy may now be thought not even to exist.

• The definitive text on the history of epilepsy in the twentieth century
• Tackles the subject on a broad front – incorporating not only the medical features of epilepsy, but also the important scientific, societal and personal aspects
• Details the key episodes and paradigm shifts in the history of epilepsy to clearly show the direction of travel of epilepsy
• Covers those elements in history which have endured and those which have not, critically examining the theories and practices from the vantage point of the present day

Simon D. Shorvon, Institute of Neurology, University College London
Simon Shorvon is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Neurology at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and Hon. Consultant Neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, where he has worked as a clinical academic specialising in epilepsy for over four decades. He has also served as the Vice President of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), Harveian Librarian at the Royal College of Physicians, co-Editor-in-Chief of Epilepsia, and as Chair of Neurology at University College London. He has won lifetime achievement awards for his work in epilepsy from the American Epilepsy Society, Epilepsy Europe, the British Branch of the ILAE and the Shrinivasan and GopalaKrishna foundations in India. He has, with others, published series of textbooks including: Neurology (2 editions 2009, 2016), Epilepsy and Epileptic Seizures (2013), Treatment of Epilepsy (4 editions 1996–2016), and Causes of Epilepsy (2 editions 2011, 2019). He has, with others, also published books on neurological history, including ILAE 1909–2009: A Centenary History (2009), Physicians at War (2016), 500 Years of the Royal College of Physicians (2018), Queen Square, A History of the National Hospital and its Institute of Neurology (2019).