The invention provides a drug selected from eslicarbazepine acetate and eslicarbazepine, for use in treating or preventing a disorder selected from epilepsy, affective disorders, schizoaffective disorders, bipolar disorders, neuropathic pain and neuropathic pain related disorders, attention disorders, anxiety disorders, sensorimotor disorders, vestibular disorders, and fibromyalgia, in a patient suffering from or susceptible to absence seizures..