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Psychic seizures may be segregated from the psychomotor variety of temporal lobe epilepsy by their lack of behavioral automatisms and by incomplete or absent amnesia and loss of consciousness. Moreover, these episodes may result from focalized, circumscribed discharges undetectable without recourse to implanted depth electroencephalograph leads. The diagnosis must therefore be made on the basis of clinical observations. Without these usual diagnostic hallmarks, psychic seizures are readily confused with a wide variety of "functional" complaints. patients who suffer from psychic seizures therefore frequently come to the attention of dynamic psychiatrists. It is useful to remember that these patients frequently present with a deepening of the emotional life so that nothing seems trivial to the patient; an increased concern with philosophical or religious matters; a marked change in sexual interest or behavior; a humorless sobriety; increased aggression, which is often denied despite direct evidence, or self-righteously defended as appropriate to the situation; and dependency. Hopping emphasizes the importance of suspecting the diagnosis and offering the patient an adequate clinical trial of specific anticonvulsant medication.