It can also change how the brain works if an adult experiences severe stress or stress over a long period of time. Epilepsy is a condition where seizures start in the brain so it may not be surprising that there is a link between stress and developing epilepsy for some people.

The most frequent trigger for TLE is psychological stress. A previously published theory of stress is reviewed. The stress circuit runs from the hippocampus to the amygdala to the dorsal raphe nucleus to the entorhinal cortex and back to the hippocampus.