Story thread · 4 reports / 4 sources

Doctors and Patients Call for Greater Public Awareness as Stigma Surrounding People with Epilepsy Persists

bta.bg · 9h · first reportShare

At a seminar for journalists focusing on how epilepsy is portrayed in the media, doctors and patients agreed that stigma surrounding people affected by epilepsy persists, and there is a need for greater public awareness. The educational seminar: The Media - A Path to Understanding Epilepsy, organized by the Association of Parents with Children with Epilepsy was held on Monday in Sofia. "Since ancient times, a stigma has existed around people with epilepsy because of a lack of understanding of the condition," Petia Dimova, neurologist at Sofia’s St. Ivan Rilski Hospital, said. Even in antiquity, she noted, there were accounts of epilepsy having a hereditary component, including among animals, as well as observations linking the condition to intellectual and physical disabilities. "Epilepsy is not contagious. It does not affect all patients with the same severity; there are different types of epilepsy, patients are different, and the manifestations of the condition vary," Dimova said. Sh