American Epilepsy Society Releases Behavioral Health Screening Toolkit for Epilepsy Care
Key Takeaways
- The American Epilepsy Society has launched a behavioral health screening toolkit for use in epilepsy care settings.
- The toolkit includes screening resources for depression, anxiety, suicidality, behavioral concerns, and quality-of-life domains.
- AES notes that screening tools are not diagnostic and should be paired with clinical evaluation, safety planning when needed, and referral pathways.
The American Epilepsy Society (AES) has released a behavioral health screening toolkit intended to help epilepsy care teams identify depression, anxiety, suicide risk, and other behavioral health concerns in people with epilepsy. The resources compile standardized screening tools, scoring guidance, and implementation information for use in clinical workflows.
The toolkit is designed for use across epilepsy care settings, including intake visits, follow-up visits, and telehealth workflows. AES notes that the behavioral health screeners are short questionnaires used to flag symptoms or risk that may require additional evaluation, rather than diagnostic tools on their own.
The resources includes tools for pediatric and adult populations with information on age range, number of items, estimated administration time, scoring, cost or permission requirements, available formats, language availability, and whether tools have been used in epilepsy populations. Examples include anxiety and depression screeners, epilepsy-specific instruments, quality-of-life measures, and suicide-risk tools.
Screening Resources Included
- Anxiety and depression tools, including SCARED, SCAARED, DASS-21, DASS-Y, PHQ-2/PHQ-9, and the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory for Epilepsy.
- Pediatric and quality-of-life measures, including the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Pediatric Symptom Checklist, PedsQL-Epilepsy Module, PROMIS, and Neuro-QoL.
- Epilepsy-specific anxiety tools, including the Epilepsy Anxiety Survey Instrument and Brief Epilepsy Anxiety Survey Instrument.
- Suicide-risk tools, including the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale and Ask Suicide-Screening Questions.
In an announcement from the AES, the society highlighted behavioral health screening as relevant to epilepsy care because anxiety and depression are common among people with epilepsy and may affect quality of life and seizure outcomes when missed. Suggested clinical triggers for screening include new diagnosis, annual wellness visits, worsening seizures, medication changes, and posthospitalization follow-up.
The toolkit emphasizes that screening should be connected to a plan for further assessment, clinical follow-up, and referral when indicated.
Source
American Epilepsy Society. Behavioral Health Toolkit: Depression & Anxiety. Accessed June 12, 2026. https://aesnet.org/clinical-care/treatments/resources-for-providers/behavioral-health-screeners-for-clinicians/?_gl=1*1lyb35o*_ga*MTYyMDA3MzgwNC4xNzU5OTMzMjEy*_ga_GV192D9FPY*czE3NjA5NjQ2NjkkbzE2JGcxJHQxNzYwOTY0Njk2JGozMyRsMCRoMA&_zs=cv8Wg&_zl=87A25