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Epilepsy centres in Europe Out of sight—but not out of mind?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Betts, Tim R. |
| Copyright Year | 2003 |
| Abstract | As Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Epilepsy, I welcome this latest supplement to our journal and commend it to you. Within these pages it is possible to discern, amongst apparent disparity, several common themes. Most of these centres (and the other European centres not represented here) arose in the late 19th century, during a period of relative economic security, from the inspiration of a few enlightened people, both medical and lay, driven by humanistic and Christian ideas of providing refuge, care and dignity to the afflicted. If the history of these centres is ever written, it will parallel that of the asylum movement, originating at the same time, for those with incurable mental illness. But the fate of the asylums (abandoned, derided and deserted), at least in the UK, has not been that of the epilepsy centres. It is easy, if you peruse the following pages, to see why. The centres, like the asylums of the late Victorian era, were originally refuges from the world: isolated communities where the afflicted could be cared for, sustained and supported away from stigmatising public view. I spent my childhood, from 8 to 18, living in the grounds of an English country asylum where the mental illnesses of the inhabitants were accepted, and where no matter how mad you were, you still had a place in the community; those patients who worked on the hospital farm (and most did) could curse their god or shout back at their voices or harbour the most bizarre delusions, but were still expected to pick potatoes out of the rich red earth of Herefordshire or tend their animals. They had a place and a purpose, their illness irrelevant. All that has gone now, blown away by the social changes of the 1960s and the introduction of medication, the magnificent redbrick wards deserted or demolished. Why has that not happened to the epilepsy centres? As the following pages attest, because they have been more adaptive, modifying their function: becoming centres of education and research and offering brief but comprehensive assessments for people who no longer need their asylum but are grateful for their rehabilitation. It is interesting how this sequence of change has taken place across the whole of Europe, thus ensuring that the centres retain their leading role in epilepsy management. How much more powerful that role will be become when these centres lose their national identities and become pan-European centres, existing in a united Europe remains to be seen; but I am pleased that these European epilepsy institutions have chosen to trail their coats in the European Journal of Epilepsy. We are all European now: civis europa sum. But two things concern me: the first is that most of these centres, although co-operating with the state, are still dependent on charity. This makes them semiindependent, but vulnerable. The second is that the original asylum function of these centres should not entirely disappear; despite our best efforts, despite all our advances there remains a small but important population of people with epilepsy whose seizures remain uncontrollable; their need remains of being able to live with dignity in an environment that accepts them and supports them and encourages them to give what they can to the community in which they reside. I would not want the fate of those uprooted from the asylums for the mentally ill to become theirs; isolated in bedsits in large towns, unable to work, living on a pittance, unable to go out for fear of stigma, minds numb and bodies stiff from too much medication. Let us remember that there are still people with epilepsy who we cannot help, except with our charity, be it Christian or humanistic. I have learnt much from reading the following pages, I hope you will as well. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1016/S1059-1311(02)00277-7 |
| PubMed reference number | 12547175 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 12 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/pii/S1059131102002777 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059131102002777 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1016/S1059-1311%2802%2900277-7 |
| Journal | Seizure |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
