Conference paper
CHARLES BONNET SYNDROME PREVALENCE IN A YOUNGER OPHTALMOLOGY OUTPATIENT POPULATION
Arda Karagol
; Baskent University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Ankara, Turkey
Abstract
Background: In the literature, most of the studies on Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) were performed on older populations. This
study aims to determine the prevalence and epidemiology of CBS and the nature of the hallucinations of the younger group of
patients from an ophthalmology outpatient clinic of a university hospital.
Subjects and methods: Twenty-eight patients were randomly chosen from the outpatient ophthalmology clinic of a university
hospital, and those who agreed to participate in the study were included. First, the patients were asked if they had ever seen visions
that other people cannot when they were fully awake. The patients who were experiencing this symptom were given
sociodemographic questionnaire and Psychiatry Institute Visual Hallucination Questionnaire, and asked to explain their
hallucinations in detail. To exclude a psychiatric disorder, the participants were made a psychiatric interview as well.
Results: The study included 19 female (67.9%) and 9 male (32.1%) participants. Five patients (17.9%) were diagnosed with
CBS. Average age of the patients diagnosed with CBS was 39.4 (min.31-max.48). Three of the 5 patients (60%) with CBS noted
negative emotions (fear, wince and bewilderment) about their hallucinations.
Conclusions: The prevalence of CBS (17,9%) weve found is compatible with medical literature.CBS may also be accompanied by "relatively milder" ophthalmologic problems
(myopia, astigmatism, etc.).The halucinations Which CBS patients
experience could be quite distressing, and the individuals might have hard times to reveal their complaints because of the
apprehension of stigmatization. To inquire this symptom during clinical examination may be the first step to help these individuals.
Keywords
signs and symptoms; perceptual disturbances; hallucinations; Charles Bonnet Syndrome
Hrčak ID:
271816
URI
Publication date:
19.10.2021.
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