New research shows that people who have depression are more than twice as likely to develop epilepsy.
Even more concerning, once someone with depression is diagnosed with epilepsy, their condition is often harder to treat. These findings come from two new studies shared at the American Epilepsy Society’s annual meeting in Atlanta.
Both studies offer new insight into how depression and epilepsy are linked and why it’s so important to treat both conditions early and together.
Dr. Howard Goodkin, the president of the American Epilepsy Society, said that these studies highlight the need for mental health and brain health professionals to work together. He explained that taking good care of depression can also protect brain health in the long run.
In the first study, researchers reviewed eight previous studies and found that people with depression had a 2.4 times higher risk of developing epilepsy. Two of the largest studies, which followed more than 11,000 people, confirmed this strong connection between depression and future epilepsy.
However, experts say that this does not mean depression directly causes epilepsy. Dr. Ali Rafati from Johns Hopkins University, who led the research, said that the link could be explained by many shared factors between the two conditions.
These include brain activity problems, stress, inflammation, and sleep disturbances. More research is needed to understand the exact connection.
In the second study, scientists looked at health data from over 90,000 people who had recently been diagnosed with epilepsy.
They found that people who also had depression were 40% more likely to not get enough help from their first seizure medication. This means they had to stop taking it, change to a different one, or add another drug to try and control their seizures.
The researchers did not explore exactly why people stopped or changed their medication, but it’s likely that the treatment was either not working well enough or was causing side effects.
Dr. Samuel Terman from the University of Michigan, who led the second study, said that people with both epilepsy and depression often have other mental health problems too. For example, people with both conditions were more likely to also suffer from anxiety, sleep disorders, bipolar disorder, or psychosis.
The numbers were striking. Anxiety affected 65% of people with both conditions, compared to only 24% of those with epilepsy alone. Sleep problems were twice as common, and psychosis and bipolar disorder were also much more frequent.
On top of that, people with both depression and epilepsy also had higher rates of other health issues like heart problems, lung disease, diabetes, and kidney disease.
Dr. Terman explained that depression might interfere with epilepsy treatment in several ways. It might lower a person’s motivation to keep taking medicine.
It might make their treatment routine feel too complicated. Or it could make side effects seem worse. Some people may also have other brain conditions that make seizures more difficult to control.
The researchers say this shows how important it is to include mental health care as part of epilepsy treatment. By treating depression, patients may be more likely to stay on effective seizure medication and get better results overall.
If you care about mental health, please read studies about how dairy foods may influence depression risk, and 6 foods you can eat to improve mental health.
For more mental health information, please see recent studies about top foods to tame your stress, and Omega-3 fats may help reduce depression.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
