More than one person in a hundred has epilepsy. The aim in writing this book is to give these people and their families access to all the information available at the present time about epilepsy, information which up to now has been difficult to find. As a doctor, I have experienced that a two-way communication with patients and their families is made much more rewarding when they have been able to attain a certain level of understanding of the subject.

People in many professions, teachers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, social workers, police and others within the legal system, come in contact with people with epilepsy and need to know something of its many facets.

This book has been written as a handbook in an attempt to cover most aspects of epilepsy, the medical as well as the psychological and social. It seeks to clarify the new methods of examining patients, and the new medicinal and surgical treatments. In our experience, there is a great interest amongst patients in knowledge about the way the body breaks down medicine and the practical conditions of treatment.

The book contains a word list, and all the medical terms used are fully explained. This knowledge should enable a better dialogue to come into being between the person with epilepsy and those treating him.

It is my hope that this book will be of benefit to people with epilepsy and those who have contact with them.

December 2001,

Mogens Dam.