Transcript: Epilepsy has attracted attention and been a source of controversy since the dawn of our recorded history. Let’s look back at the history of this common condition.  One percent of the world's population has epilepsy, a condition of spantaneously recurrent siezures. A seizure is a sudden, excessive discharge of nervous-system electrical activity that usually causes unexpected changes in behavior. Epilepsy is not a new affliction. In fact, the esteemed Greek physician Hippocrates wrote the first book on epilepsy in the year 400 B.C! Hippocrates refuted the idea that epilepsy was a curse or a sign from the Gods. “It appears to me to be nowise more divine, nor more sacred than other diseases, but has a natural cause like other affections…”  In 70 A.D., epilepsy even made a debut in the bible! In the Gospel according to Mark, Jesus Christ casts out a “devil” from a boy with seizures. Years later, in 1494, two Dominican friars wrote a handbook on witch-hunting which identified seizures as a characteristic of witches. The persecution that followed resulted in over 200,000 deaths. Epilepsy continued to be a condition of confusion and controversy when, in the mid 1800’s, three English neurologists ushered in the modern era of epilepsy. At this time, one of the neurologists, John Hughlings Jackson, defined a seizure as an “occasional, an excessive and a disorderly discharge of nerve tissue on the muscles.” From Jackson and Others,  epilepsy was declared to come from the brain.  Several years later, in 1904, American William Spratling coined the term epileptologist—a doctor who specializes in epilepsy. In 1912, the first seizure medication, phenobarbital, was created as a sedative, but soon was found useful for seizures and it is still used today. Eight years later, the ketogenic diet was devised. This meal plan is high in fat and low in proteins. It is meant to simulate the effects of fasting, a state that can decrease seizures.  In 1929, German psychiatrist Hans Berger invented the electroencephalogram, or EEG recording method. This made it possible to record the brain’s electric currents without opening the skull.  In the next thirty years, a host of new epilepsy medications were introduced to treat and prevent the range of seizures.  In 1909 the Internationl League Against Epilepsy was founded, and in 1968, the Epilepsy Foundation of America was founded. Along with the Amercian Epilepsy Society and the Epileptic Therapy Project, these are now the main organizations dedicted to fighting epilepsy. Even in the twentieth century, some states had laws forbidding people with epilepsy to marry or have children! Luckily, this practice was ended with the Americans with Disabilities act of 1990. During the next ten years, new medications provided even more seizure control. And in 1997, the FDA approved vagus nerve stimulation to treat partial epilepsy in adults.  In 2000, the Epilepsy Foundation organized a landmark conference which set bold goals for the future, including finding a cure for epilepsy. It’s clear that people with epilepsy have come a long way toward healing—and society has come a long way toward understanding!