PSYCHOLOGICAL-FACTORS IN SPASMODIC DYSPHO NIA

Spastic dysphonia has usually been thought as a form of psychogenic dy sphonia. A considerable number of authors now feel that this voice dis order is caused by neurological factors. Patients: This study evaluate s several psychological factors in 18 patients (9 males, 9 females; me an age: 52.6 years) who had been phoniatrically diagnosed as suffering from adductor spasmodic dysphonia. Results: In standardized psychomet ric tests, clinical performance of the patients as a group did not dev iate from published test norms with respect to emotional instability, hypochondriasis, somatization, or depression. Many patients had been p sychosocially stressed to a mild to moderate degree by life events in the two-year period prior to onset of spasmodic dysphonia. These event s included severe illness of their own or of near relatives, or death in the family. The personality structure of nearly half of the patient s showed a tendency toward increased achievement orientation and certa in trait anxieties. Conclusions: In summary, spasmodic dysphonia remai ns a phonation disorder of uncertain nosologic classification. It is p robable that the disorder is the result of a combination of largely un known neurological and psychosocial factors.