What Part of the Brain Causes Seizures?

Seizures can take place within all parts of the brain. Seizures are not caused by any part of the brain per se, but by an electric misfire in that part of the brain. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, seizures are caused by an "electrical disturbance." The type of seizure that occurs will vary depending upon the section(s) of the brain the electrical disturbance occurs within.

Generalized Seizures

• When a person has a generalized seizure, both sides of the brain are involved. Generalized seizures include absence, atonic, tonic-clonic and myoclonic seizures. In generalized seizures, consciousness is lost. These seizures can also involve jerking of limbs or convulsions.

Partial Seizures

• The other type of epileptic seizures is a partial seizure, during which the part of the brain stimulating the seizure is limited to only one side of the brain. There are simple partial seizures and complex partial seizures. In a simple partial seizure, consciousness is retained. In a complex partial seizure, consciousness is altered or lost. Partial seizures are more common than generalized seizures, and according to the Epilepsy Foundation, "Virtually any movement, sensory or emotional symptom can occur as part of a partial seizure."

Non-Epileptic Seizures

• There are also non-epileptic seizures, which are seizures caused by emotional responses rather than an electrical misfire in the brain. When these type of seizures occur, the specific area of the brain involved typically cannot be specifically identified.

Damage to Areas of the Brain and Seizures

• Both partial and generalized seizures can also be triggered by physical damage to an area of the brain. However, more commonly, seizures occur without a known injury to the brain.

Brain Area Involved and Seizure Treatment

• If you are suffering from a seizure disorder, for your doctor to successfully treat your seizures, it is important that your neurologist identify which part(s) of your brain are causing the seizures. Diagnostic tests such as MRIs and EEGs may help doctors to confirm which area of the brain is causing the seizures.

Targeting the Cause of Seizures

• Medications that target seizures different from those affecting you will not be as helpful as those treating the source of your problem. Also, if doctors are able to identify a single portion of the brain that causes the seizures, and drug treatments fail, you may be a candidate for surgery that removes the section of the brain causing the seizures.

Who Gets What Kind of Seizures

• Individuals who have seizures may have only one type of seizure, or they may have different type of seizures, with different areas of the brain involved. Partial seizures that go untreated can make it more likely that a patient will develop generalized seizures.