PSYCHOGENIC BLINDNESS

We report on a 51 year old female patient, who within 1 year developed severe impairment of vision up to subjective blindness in both eyes. Clinical examination with a battery of distinct tests revealed suspici on of hysterical amaurosis. Additional diagnostic procedures, both mor phological (cranial magnetic resonance imaging) and functional (electr oencephalography, visual evoked potentials and transcranial Doppler ul trasound after visual stimulation), were normal as well as the ophthal mological tests, and confirmed the diagnosis. The prognosis is conside red to be poor because of the beginning of chronicity and the obvious secondary benefits of being ill. Furthermore, the former history revea led evidence for psychosomatic pathogenesis with different patterns of diffuse disturbances.