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Applied Linguistics Advance Access published online on April 17, 2009
Applied Linguistics, doi:10.1093/applin/amp012
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© Oxford University Press 2009

Seizure, Fit or Attack? The Use of Diagnostic Labels by Patients with Epileptic or Non-epileptic Seizures

Leendert Plug1, Basil Sharrack2 and Markus Reuber2

1Department of Linguistics and Phonetics, University of Leeds, UK
2Academic Neurology Unit, University of Sheffield, UK


  Abstract

We present an analysis of the use of diagnostic labels such as seizure, attack, fit, and blackout by patients who experience seizures. While previous research on patients’ preferences for diagnostic terminology has relied on questionnaires, we assess patients’ own preferences and their responses to a doctor's use of different labels through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of doctor–patient interactions in a realistic clinical setting. We also examine whether two sub-groups of patients—those with epileptic seizures and those with (psychogenic) non-epileptic seizures—show different behaviours in this respect. Our findings suggest first that patients make fine lexical distinctions between the various diagnostic labels they use to describe their seizure experiences; secondly, that patients play an active role in the development and application of labels for their medical complaint; and thirdly, that attention to patients’ lexical choices and interactive use or avoidance of labels can be relevant for the differential diagnosis of seizures.


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