What is a "seizure"?

What is a "seizure"?

Charles Ribak, Ph.D. (Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology, UC Irvine School of Medicine) gives expert video advice on: What causes a seizure?; If I had a seizure, do I have epilepsy?; Are people with epilepsy more creative? and more...

Basically, a seizure is when there is a synchronised activity of brain cells and they're all firing at the same time. This is called a "burst of activity." Normally the brain works in a very desynchronised manner; little messages are going through different parts of the brain. However, when the entire brain or very large parts of the brain are synchronised in their activity, this is called a "seizure." Now, the seizure and how that relates to epilepsy is an interesting question. Epilepsy is a disorder characterised by multiple seizures; having one seizure is not epilepsy.