Introduction: The increased risk for psychiatric disorders in epilepsy can be related to a number of clinical, psychosocial and biological factors. Due to the unpredictability of seizures and the possibility that they may occur at any time and in any place, patients with epilepsy may develop social phobia and may have feelings of worthlessness and stigma. These factors decrease their psychosocial function, self-efficacy, and quality of life and even increase the suicide rate. Considering the above-mentioned scientific data, the present study was designed to investigate phobia, self-esteem and depression status in patients with epilepsy. Methods: One hundred thirty-two patients (aged 21-52 years) and age- and gender-matched control group of 61 subjects (aged 25-60 years) were included in this study. All patients in both groups were administered the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results: The mean ages of the patient group and the healthy controls were 29.66±11.3 and 32.16±7.99, respectively. There was no statistical significance between the two groups in terms of age and sex (p>0.05). BDI, LSAS and CSEI scores in the patient group were statistically significantly different than in the control group (p<0.05). Discussion: Our results showed that social phobia, lower self-esteem and depression are important comorbid conditions in epileptic patients. Psychiatric disorders are usually underrecognized and undertreated in patients with epilepsy. Therefore, it is very important to identify and treat the psychiatric comorbid conditions in epilepsy because of their significant burden on patients’ quality of life.

biyolojik faktörlere baglidir. Nöbetlerin önceden belirlenememesi ve herhangi bir yer ve zamanda ortaya çikabilmesi, epileptik hastalarda sosyal fobi ve degersizlik hissi gelisimine neden olabilir. Bu faktörler hastalarin psikososyal fonksiyonunu, yasam kalitesini azaltirken intihar oranini arttirir. Bu çalismada epileptik hastalarda depresyon, sosyal fobi ve benlik saygisi düzeyi arastirilmistir. Yöntem: Çalismaya, 132 hasta (21-52 yas); yas ve cinsiyet uyumlu 61 kontrol dahil edilmistir. Liebowitz Sosyal Anksiye Ölçegi (LSAÖ), Coopersmith Benlik Saygisi Ölçegi (Coopersmith BSÖ) ve Beck Depresyon Ölçegi (BDÖ) her iki gruba da uygulanmistir. Bulgular: Hasta ve kontrol grubundaki kisilerin ortalama yasi sirasiyla, 29,66±11,3 ve 32,16±7,99’dur. LSAÖ, Coopersmith BSÖ ve BDÖ, hasta grubunda kontrol grubuna göre anlamli oranda farkli bulunmustur (p<0,05). Sonuç: Bizim sonuçlarimiz, sosyal fobi, düsük benlik saygisi ve depresyonun epileptik hastalarda önemli psikiyatrik komorbid faktörler oldugunu göstermistir. Epilepside psikiyatrik bozukluklar siklikla atlanmakta ve iyi tedavi edilmemektedir. Bu nedenle, epilepside komorbid faktörleri tanimlamak ve tedavi etmek, hastalarin yasam kalitesininin iyilestirilmesi için çok önemlidir.