GRAMERCY — A mental health center has opened on Park Avenue South near East 21st Street to help patients suffering the psychological side effects of epilepsy.
The Gramercy Center for Behavioral Health was created as an arm of The Epilepsy Foundation of Metropolitan New York in order to put the foundation’s extensive expertise to good use in the community, said Executive Director Pamela Conford.
It is the only clinic in the city that specializes in treating mental health issues in epilepsy patients, she added.
“There’s increasing research that there can be a significant statistical impact on mood and behavior, particularly depression [and] anxiety [in patients with epilepsy],” Conford said. "We assist by providing counseling and treatment coordination by a multi-disciplinary team of licensed professionals in the fields of social work, psychology, psychiatry and vocational rehabilitation.”
The center offers epileptics individual psychotherapy, family therapy, group therapy and medication management, according to a statement from the center. It will also be open to those with other chronic conditions.
Conford said at least 1 percent of the U.S. population suffers from epilepsy, although that is likely a conservative estimate. Severe seizures are easy to identify, but not all types of seizures involve violent convulsions. Some people with epilepsy can go undiagnosed for years.
A recent study conducted at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health indicated that one in 26 people will develop epilepsy in the course of a lifetime, she added.
"When people have a need and they feel they have found a place for service, there is such a sense of relief," Conford said. "There's a relief for the individual, and there can also be a relief for the family."
Conford said The Epilepsy Foundation has been in operation since 1976 and has maintained an office in the Gramercy area for many years.
In that time, the foundation’s programs have had a profound effect on epilepsy patients, she said. Just recently, the foundation received a donation from the estate of a former patient.
“As a result of being here, he really did feel like he had choices in his life and he could do more than he initially believed he could,” Conford said of the donor.
“We really are a home for people with epilepsy,” Conford added. “People can come in with the expectation that they will be listened to and they will be heard and understood.”
