Psychogenic amblyopia in children.

Forty-three children with unexplainable low visual acuity were diagnosed to have psychogenic amblyopia. Twenty-eight children returned after a mean interval of 20 months. Sixteen children had a normal visual acuity, but 12 children again presented themselves with a low visual acuity that normalized rapidly under the influence of the same kind of persuasion that was used in the first examination. Psychological tests did not confirm the hypothesis of hysteria but the neurosomatic score was significantly high. The results of the psychological tests and the interviews of the parents suggest a neurotic conflict not on the basis of an oedipal conflict but on the basis of a conflict between the wish to express feelings of hostility and the wish not to lose the love of the parents.