[Psycho-affective problems associated with retinitis pigmentosa].

PURPOSE

The aim of the present study was to identify psychological problems in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Nine hundred and seventy patients completed a questionnaire on mental symptoms, The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). The responses of these patients were compared with those of a validated control population.

RESULTS

The results reveal the presence of a significant anxiety (depression syndrome (p < 0.0001) and very intense phobic pathology (p < 0.0001) in the patient population. Sex and age were found to be discriminating variables.

CONCLUSIONS

In the discussion, we asked why, in contrast to other populations with disabling chronic diseases, those with retinopathy are not able to overcome this anxiety-depression stage. Considered from the psychanalytic concepts of mourning and of denial, an ambivalence in the psyche, specific to these patients is revealed. And with respect to the phobic dimension, it can be attributed less to a true phobic neurosis than to a pseudo-phobic behavioral syndrome "manufactured" by the disease.