A comprehensive review of 36 randomized studies involving 5,834 adults evaluated psycho-behavioral, self-management, mind-body, exercise-based, and service-delivery interventions for epilepsy. Psycho-behavioral programs likely reduced seizure frequency modestly at three to six months, and mind-body approaches may provide slight short-term reductions, although evidence remains low-certainty. Self-management interventions did not consistently decrease seizure frequency but may increase seizure-free periods in some participants, while service-delivery interventions showed no measurable improvements.
Across interventions, long-term data were limited, and most strategies demonstrated uncertain or minimal effects on seizure severity, health-related quality of life, or functional outcomes. Several interventions showed small, inconsistent improvements in HRQoL scales, although many studies reported no meaningful differences from standard care. No adverse events were attributed to the interventions, but variability across study designs and populations limits the generalizability of the findings, highlighting the need for standardized, long-term clinical trials.
Keywords: epilepsy management, behavioral intervention, seizure frequency, quality of life