This is one of those questions that really depends on the person. For some PWEs, watching someone else have a seizure doesn’t affect them at all. But for others — and I include myself here — witnessing a seizure can actually trigger one. Yep, it happens.
For me, it’s mostly about fear and stress. Seeing someone convulse, hearing the sounds, feeling that sudden spike of anxiety — it can light up your brain like a warning siren. There’s some science behind it too: when you get scared or stressed suddenly, your body releases adrenaline, your heart rate jumps, and your brain gets into a hyper-alert state. For people like me who have stress high on their trigger list, that’s sometimes enough to tip the balance and bring on a seizure of our own.
This is why, in the Epilepsy Management Guide, we recommend that caregivers and companions ideally shouldn’t be PWEs who still have active seizures. It’s not discrimination — it’s just that in a crisis, if one seizure sets off another, things can spiral fast.
Another interesting point: most of us never actually see our own seizures. We’re unconscious or confused during the event, so everything we know comes from what others describe. And yet, some people can literally “think themselves into a seizure” just by imagining it vividly. The mind-body link is no joke.
On the flip side, I also know several PWEs — including a few of our Seizure Support volunteers — who have completely overcome this trigger. How? By watching videos of their own seizures repeatedly in a safe, controlled way. At first, it was hard. But over time, the fear faded. They desensitized themselves to it and became immune to that particular trigger. Honestly, I find that inspiring.
My advice? Treat this as a personal experiment. If watching seizure videos makes you feel uneasy or on edge, stop immediately — no shame in that. But if you can build tolerance slowly, it can actually help break that fear cycle in the long run. Like many things with epilepsy, it’s trial and error. What matters is finding what works for you.
This issue is discussed in detail in the Epilepsy Management Guide, which you can download for free. To participate in the discussion on this topic, visit the Global Epilepsy Forum. To know more about what we do, please click HERE. We also have a donation page where those who feel compelled can give whatever they can afford by clicking HERE.
