The Diagnosis of Ocular Conversion Reaction Involving Visual Function

Abstract

Fifty-nine patients with ocular conversion reactions affecting vision are discussed. This heterogeneous group of subjects was affected by a wide variety of stresses contributing to symptoms. A precipitating stress of early organic disease was initially overlooked in two patients. These patients were most often distinguished by a fluctuating visual acuity influenced by suggestion and other factors, tubular visual fields which were constant in some patients but variable in others, and an upward shift of dark-adaptation thresholds after prolonged testing, termed the exhaustion phenomenon. Color vsion and orthoptic findings were definitely helpful in a few patients. Normal results of an electroretinogram and sometimes also normal results of an electrooculogram were useful in establishing normal retinal function in most of these patients.