Complex partial seizure
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A complex partial seizure is an epileptic attack that involves a greater degree of impairment or alteration of consciousness/awareness and memory than a simple partial seizure.
Complex partial seizures are often precipitated by an Aura. This may begin with a feeling of deja vu or jamais vu. The person may then have feelings of fear, euphoria or depression as well as possible depersonalisation. Vision may then be disturbed. Often patients report tunnel vision or a change in the size of objects. Once consciousness is impaired the person may display "automatisms" such as lip smacking, chewing, swallowing and undressing oneself. There may also be loss of memory (amnesia) surrounding the seizure event. As the person may still be able to perform routine tasks such as walking or shopping the seizure may not be immediately recognisable to a witness who may not be aware that there is anything wrong.
Although the origins of complex partial seizure may vary, they usually originate in the temporal lobes of the brain. It is often caused by mesia lesions in the brain, which are essentially a ridge of scar-like tissue in the brain. Like more generalised epilepsy, complex partial seizures are caused by a mis-firing of a synapse in the brain which causes a "storm like" reaction in the brain with bursts of electricity that can result in many changes in personality and physicality. Often the abnormal brain activity may spread to the rest of the brain, thus causing a secondary generalised seizure.
Creativity & Epilepsy
It has long been debated whether or not people with forms of complex partial seizures are conducive to a greater or higher creativity or creative output. In 2002 researchers at the Guelhane Military Medical Academy in Turkey evaluated thirty men with epilepsy and thirty six men without the condition. The men were instructed to use fragmented parts of a drawing to create a picture of their own. Those with complex partial seizures scored higher than their counterparts. There have been a number of figures in the arts who, it is suspected, suffered from forms of epilepsy (most probably temporal lobe epilepsy and complex partial seizures). These include Van Gogh, Gauguin, Socrates, Flaubert and Dosteyvsky. Other great historical figures who have also post-homously been diagnosed with having a form of epilepsy also include Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Saint Paul the Apostle and Joan of Arc. It must be said, however, that it may be inaccurate to diagnose a person with an illness when that person has been dead for a number of years. Also, there have not been enough large-scale and definitve studies in any link between creativity and complex partial seizures to make such claims truly valid.
References
Medline Plus: Partial complex seizure
Epilepsy Action - Link Between Complex Partial Epilepsy and Creativity