Abstract
This chapter aims to address the question of whether a presurgical psychiatric evaluation is warranted in all surgical candidates, to analyze the reasons behind the failure to incorporate it in the presurgical protocols, followed in most epilepsy centers, and to provide the evidence in support for its use in all patients. This chapter focuses on the risk of postsurgical psychiatric complications; epilepsy surgery improves presurgical psychiatric comorbidities. In addition, the relatively high psychiatric comorbidity in surgical candidates, and its negative impact on postsurgical seizure outcome and an increased risk of postsurgical psychiatric complications require a careful presurgical psychiatric evaluation in every surgical candidate. Such evaluation can help avert unnecessary postsurgical psychiatric problems and a better adjustment of the patient and family to a seizure-free life, and is important in the process of counseling patients on the postsurgical psychiatric risks.
