Releasing an Imprisoned Spirit: Removing the Seizure Focal Point

As a graduate student, Karen Glumm experienced two grand mal seizures and was placed on medication. After months of reading, Glumm realized she had experienced partial seizures as a child, but had accepted them as a regular fact of life and not a serious medical condition. This acceptance stemmed from her alcoholic parent’s coping strategy of hiding deficiencies and deviations from normal behavior in order to continue drinking. Glumm mirrored this in her behavior regarding the new and confusing seizures she experienced.
In this medical biography, Glumm relates her erratic behavior as an undiagnosed epileptic, a gradual acceptance of the condition, and her hard-won success as a college student and Ph.D. with humor and honesty.

Karen Glumm, Ph.D. is a social science faculty member at North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham, NC. Her current research concerns the connection between state psychiatric hospital deinstitutionalization and the increasing prison population.