Exacerbation of central serous chorioretinopathy during trauma-confronting psychotherapy- a case report.

BACKGROUND: Psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, in particular trauma-confronting psychotherapy, can be associated with increased stress. However, research on the somatic impact and psychosomatic interactions of these psychological stress reactions is lacking. We report on a 43-year old man whose central serous chorioretinopathy exacerbated upon trauma-confronting psychotherapy. CASE PRESENTATION: We report on a man with pre-diagnosed, asymptomatic central serous chorioretinopathy who underwent inpatient psychosomatic therapy. He disclosed a history of sexual abuse by a family member and consequently showed intrusions, flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance behavior, and hyperarousal. Thus, we diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder. After a stabilization phase, he underwent trauma-focused psychotherapy including trauma confrontation. In the course of this treatment, acute vision loss with blurred vision and image distortion of his right eye occurred. An ophthalmologic visit confirmed a relapse of a pre-diagnosed central serous chorioretinopathy. The analysis of stress biomarkers showed a decrease in testosterone levels and a noon peak in diurnal cortisol secretion, which is indicative of a stress reaction. CONCLUSION: Central serous chorioretinopathy may exacerbate upon psychotherapeutic treatment. In this case, an exacerbation of chorioretinopathy was observed in direct relation to the therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapists and ophthalmologists should collaborate in the psychotherapeutic treatment of patients with chorioretinopathy. Our case demonstrates the need to consider the possible increased stress levels during psychotherapy and resulting physical side effects, such as exacerbation of an existing condition. It is advisable to adjust the level of generated stress particularly well in the presence of stress-inducible physical diseases. Our case is a good example of the interplay between psychological and physical stress.

Dysfunctional personality beliefs and psychopathology in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy.

OBJECTIVES: To assess dysfunctional personality beliefs associated with specific personality disorders (PD), as well as psychopathological symptoms and psychological distress levels in central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included acute and chronic CSC patients and age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Dysfunctional personality beliefs and psychopathological symptoms assessed with Personality Belief Questionnaire-Short Form and Symptom Check List-90 Revised (SCL-90-R), respectively, were compared between CSC patients and healthy volunteers and between acute and chronic CSC patients. MAIN RESULTS: Of the 55 CSC patients included in the study analysis, 21 (38.2%) had acute and 34 (61.8%) chronic CSC. Avoidant PD (13.92±3.79 vs. 12.03±3.98, P=0.012) and obsessive-compulsive PD (13.94±3.95 vs. 12.27±3.75, P=0.025) scores on the PBQ-SF were significantly higher in CSC patients than in healthy volunteers. The PBQ-SF scores were similar between acute and chronic CSC patients. CSC patients scored significantly higher on the general severity index (GSI) and all symptom dimensions except phobic anxiety and psychoticism on the SCL-90-R. In addition, scores for obsessive-compulsive, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoid ideation, and GSI were significantly higher in acute than in chronic CSC patients. CONCLUSIONS: This first study investigating the relationship between CSC and dysfunctional personality beliefs indicates that CSC patients have higher levels of dysfunctional beliefs related to avoidant and obsessive-compulsive PD than healthy volunteers. These findings present a new aspect of the personality profile of CSC patients and point to a target for intervention, i.e., dysfunctional beliefs, through a cognitive-psychiatric approach.

Personality Traits, Stress, and Emotional Intelligence Associated with Central Serous Chorioretinopathy.

BACKGROUND The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits, stress, emotional intelligence, and central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). MATERIAL AND METHODS This prospective case-control study included 57 patients with acute CSCR and 57 age- and sex-matched controls with refractive errors. Inclusion criteria for CSCR group were acute unilateral onset of visual disturbances within 2 weeks until the first visit to the ophthalmologist and ophthalmoscopic finding of a round or oval macular detachment confirmed by optical coherence tomography as a dome-shaped serous neuroretinal elevation. RESULTS Using the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF), patients with CSCR achieved slightly higher scores on primary characteristics such as warmth (P=0.612) and perfectionism (P=0.137) when compared to the control subjects. Mean scores measured with the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) were significantly higher in patients with CSCR (P=0.004), which means that these patients had notably elevated average reactivity to stressful life events. In addition, the number of patients with a high stress level was higher in the CSCR group than in the control group. Considering the level of emotional intelligence measured with the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF), patients with CSCR achieved significantly lower scores on well-being (P=0.003) and sociability (P=0.011) factors, as well as on total score (P=0.014). CONCLUSIONS A higher level of perceived stress is the most important psychological risk factor for CSCR. According to our results, a low level of emotional intelligence may be an additional factor that contributes to the occurrence of CSCR.

Stress and vision-related quality of life in acute and chronic central serous chorioretinopathy.

BACKGROUND: To compare vision-related quality of life (VRQOL) between acute and chronic Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) and correlate this with Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaire. METHODS: Patients who were diagnosed with both acute and chronic CSC were recruited in this study. Vision-related quality of life (VRQOL) was assessed with Rasch revised National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire 25 (NEI-VFQ25) and perceived stress with Cohen's PSS questionnaire in 118 subjects with either acute or chronic CSC. The quality of life score was compared between patients with acute and chronic CSC. Correlations between the functional score and visual acuity (VA), stage of CSC, and stress were studied. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in VRQOL between Acute and Chronic CSC. In Acute CSC, affected eye VA correlated significantly with near vision question of the visual function subscale. Better eye VA correlated significantly with distance vision, social function, role limitation and dependency of the socioeconomic subscale. In chronic CSC, affected eye VA correlated with social function question of the socioemotional subscale and the better eye VA correlated with driving and distance vision of the visual function subscale. No other significant correlations with VA were noted. No correlations were observed between outcome of Cohen's PSS questionnaire and NEI-VFQ25 scores of acute and chronic CSC. CONCLUSION: The VRQOL is similar between acute and chronic CSC. Perceived stress was not found to influence the VRQOL in CSC.

Maladaptive personality traits, psychological morbidity and coping strategies in chronic central serous chorioretinopathy.

PURPOSE: 'Type A' behavioural characteristics and psychosocial stress have traditionally been associated with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (cCSC). However, a characteristical personality profile could not be identified in these patients and the presumed association with stress is subject to controversy, due to a lack of convincing studies using validated measuring instruments. In this study, we aimed to assess maladaptive personality traits, psychological morbidity and coping strategies in patients with cCSC, in order to identify potentially modifiable psychosocial aspects which could be used in support to current standard treatment. METHODS: A cross-sectional study in a cohort of 86 patients with cCSC using validated questionnaires. Findings were compared to both Dutch population reference data and reference data from patients treated for Cushing's disease. RESULTS: Maladaptive personality traits were not more prevalent in patients with cCSC than in the general population, and psychological morbidity was not increased. Patients with cCSC were shown to make more use of passive coping, active coping and seeking social support. Interestingly, personality, psychological morbidity and coping characteristics of patients with cCSC were more comparable to features of patients treated for Cushing's disease than to population-based data. CONCLUSION: Maladaptive personality traits such as type A behavioural characteristics are not more prevalent in patients with cCSC. Patients with cCSC make more use of certain coping strategies, which could be addressed by psychosocial care to improve self-management. Further research is needed establish whether the course of disease can be improved by altering coping and reducing 'stress'.

Central serous chorioretinopathy: Professional repercussions among agents of the internal security forces.

PURPOSE: To describe the relationship between central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) and stress in addition to the transient and permanent professional repercussions of this condition among security forces agents. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This is a retrospective, descriptive study of 22 CSCR patients. All patients were interviewed to establish their job status, a stressful triggering event, the number of consultations, absenteeism, the duration of episodes, the number of days off, exemption from certain activities and professional reclassification. All of our patients underwent a complete ophthalmological examination and ancillary testing (OCT optical coherence tomography, fluorescein retinal angiography) to establish the positive diagnosis and to determine the clinical form. RESULTS: During their daily activity, all patients were armed and worked night security duty. They all reported a stressful event just before the onset of the disease. The average visual acuity was 4/10 P6 all forms combined; with a visual acuity between 1 and 2/10 for the chronic form. Visual impairment was associated with absenteeism (mean length of time off was 1.13 months per episode), exemptions from carrying arms or night duty in 36.36% of cases, with professional reclassification in 22.7% of patients. CONCLUSION: CSCR affects psychology and alters the quality of life of patients who are generally young and professionally active. This can interfere with work performance and cause temporary or permanent disability.

Association of Central Serous Chorioretinopathy with Psychosocial Factors is Dependent on Its Phase and Subtype.

PURPOSE: To analyze the psychosocial factors associated with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) according to its phases and subtypes and to correlate the factors with the extent of choroidal hyperpermeability. METHODS: Age- and sex-matched CSC patients and controls (n = 37 in each group) were enrolled, and their psychosocial factors were compared. CSC was divided into two phases (active and inactive), and active CSC was further divided into two subtypes (acute and chronic). The correlations between the size of the hyperpermeable choroidal lesion identified on indocyanine green angiography and psychosocial factors were examined. RESULTS: Active CSC patients experienced more stressful events (p = 0.030), were more depressive (p = 0.037), and felt less emotional (p = 0.014) and informational (p = 0.014) support than the matched controls, whereas inactive CSC patients were comparable to the matched controls in all psychosocial factors. Among the active CSC patients, acute patients were more depressive (p = 0.029), while chronic patients experienced more stressful events (p = 0.024) than their matched controls. The size of the hyperpermeable choroidal lesion was correlated with the severity of depression in acute patients. CONCLUSIONS: Association of CSC with psychosocial factors was dependent on the phase and subtype of CSC. Psychosocial factors were associated with CSC in the active phase, and severity of depression was correlated with the size of the choroidal pathology in acute active CSC. Further prospective studies to investigate if psychosocial factors can trigger CSC are warranted.

[Features of psycho-emotional state of patients with central serous chorioretinopathy]. / Psikhoémotsional'nyĭ status patsientov pri tsentral'noĭ seroznoĭ khorioretinopatii.

AIM: to investigate peculiarities of psycho-emotional reactions in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved 35 patients with CSCR (mean age of 47.7±8.5 years) and 26 volunteers without visual impairment (mean age of 35.8±4.5 years). Their psycho-emotional state was studied using the SCL-90-R questionnaire (the severity of psychopathological symptomatology), TOBOL method (the type of attitude to the disease), Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) (strategies for controlling behavior), Spielberger-Hanin method (the level of anxiety), and the VFQ-25 questionnaire (quality of life). RESULTS: The psycho-emotional state of CSCR patients is characterized by elevated levels of depressive and paranoiac symptoms, obsessions, compulsions, and anxiety. Such patients tend to show supernatural, sthenic desire to maintain their professional status. They tend to try to resolve the conflict by denying the problem, imagining things and distracting oneself. They also show reactive and personal anxiety. In this study, their quality of life was significantly lower than that in healthy volunteers, vision-related criteria particularly concerned. CONCLUSION: Patients with CSCR demonstrate certain psycho-emotional features that can aggravate their general medical condition as well as the ophthalmic status.

Psychological factors associated with acute and chronic central serous chorioretinopathy.

BACKGROUND: Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) has been associated with several psychological factors. But previous psychological data are limited and mainly restricted to male patients and small sample size. In this study we investigated psychosomatic complaints, personality factors, life events, and stress coping in acute and chronic recurrent CSC patients. METHODS: Ninety-five patients (71 men, 24 women) with either acute or chronic CSC were evaluated regarding critical life events before diagnosis, psychosomatic complaints, personality traits and coping style. The characteristics of CSC patients were compared with a control group comprising 75 patients (46 men, 29 women) suffering from acute or chronic ophthalmic disorders other than CSC. RESULTS: Compared with patients of the control group, CSC patients reported more psychosomatic problems, unfavourable stress coping strategies and critical life events as well as elevated tension, aggression, strain, emotional instability and achievement orientation. Except for aggression the observed characteristics were more pronounced in acute than in chronic CSC patients. CONCLUSIONS: The appearance of CSC may be associated with an accumulation of stressful life events with an unfavourable coping style and distinctive personality factors. Acute CSC is related to more unfavourable stress coping and more physical complaints compared to its chronic course. Elevated aggression may imply one potential risk factor for CSC manifestation and also may have an adverse effect with its chronification.

Vision-related quality of life in patients with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy.

PURPOSE: To evaluate vision-related quality of life in patients with chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR). DESIGN: Prospective, cross-sectional study. METHODS: The interviewer-administered National Eye Institute visual function questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) was used in 30 adult consecutive patients with chronic CSCR patients. The controls were 30 gender- and age-matched people with normal visual function who came from the same socioeconomic and educational background as the participants. RESULTS: Patients with CSCR had statistically significant lower scores than controls for all the subscales, except for general health. In the study group, all subscale scores of vision-related quality of life, except general health, showed statistically significant negative correlations with the visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS: People with CSCR have worse vision-related quality of life than people without the condition.

[Central serous chorioretinitis and depressive disorder - a psychosomatic perspective]. / Die Chorioretinitis centralis serosa und die depressive Störung - eine psychosomatische Perspektive.

Central serous chorioretinitis serosa is repeatedly brought into aetiological considerations with a rather unspecific concept of distress. Depressive disorder represents a specific stressor, which is known in cardiology or diabetology as a significant risk factor. In the present case report, the clinical correlation between a central serous chorioretinitis and a depressive disorder is shown from a psychosomatic point of view, comparing a sequentially-reactive understanding of the disorder complex with a preferable model of simultaneous entanglement.

Temperament and character personality profile and illness-related stress in central serous chorioretinopathy.

Psychological stress is a risk factor as well as a consequence of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Impulsiveness, overachievement, emotional instability, and hard-driving competitiveness have been discussed as personality features in CSC patients. We investigated 57 consecutive CSC patients and 57 age- and gender-matched controls by means of the Symptom Checklist 90-R and the Temperament and Character Inventory. Somatic risk factors, illness characteristics, subjective assessment of severity of illness, and illness-related stress in different areas of life (work, private life) were evaluated. CSC patients showed significantly higher emotional distress as measured by the Global Severity Index. The CSC personality was characterized by lower scoring on the character dimension cooperativeness and the temperament dimension reward dependence. Cooperativeness as well as subjective assessment of severity of CSC has been recognized as significant predictors of illness-related work stress accounting for 30% of variance. Implicating competitiveness, hostility and emotional detachment, lower level of cooperativeness, and reward dependence support the existence of specific aspects of type A behaviour in CSC patients. Low perceived social support and loss of control may explain the significant contribution of this personality dimension to illness-related work stress. Treatment of CSC should thus incorporate psychoeducation about factors contributing to illness-related stress.

[Masuda's Central Serous Chorioretinopathy (C.S.C.R.) and its somatic investment in Narcissism: our observations on new psychiatric nosography]. / Corioretinopatia sierosa centrale (C.R.S.C.) di Masuda quale investimento somatico nel Narcisismo: nostra rifl essione sulla nuova nosografi a psichiatrica.

Case report. Co-morbidity between central serous chorioretinopathy (C.R.S.C.) and narcissistic personality disorder. A reflection on the importance of an integrated approach to this ophthalmological disease through the description of its psychosomatic aspects and the evaluation of the nosographic definition in psychiatry. The central serous chorioretinopathy (C.R.S.C.) is a transudative disease affecting the posterior pole of the eye, that rapidly compromises the visual acuity, although it is a self-limited disease. Narcissism is a personality disorder characterised by an extreme gratification of self, without actually taking care of other people. In the current work both the diseases, along with the respective psychosomatic consequences the patient received, are examined.

Psychological distress and poor quality of life in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy.

PURPOSE: We aimed to compare the mental health and quality of life (QoL) between central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) patients and the control subjects. METHODS: Thirty consecutive patients presenting with CSCR and age-gender-matched 30 healthy control subjects filled in the following standardized questionnaires: Symptom Checklist 90-R (SCL 90-R) and Short Form 36 (SF-36). Age, gender, and ocular clinical findings were recorded. RESULTS: According to SCL-90-R, all scores were significantly higher in the CSCR group when compared to the control group. The patients with CSCR reported significantly lower levels of QoL, except bodily pain. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that CSCR patients have poorer QoL and more psychological problems. CSCR patients may benefit from psychosocial support and interventions.

Temperament profile in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy: a case-control study.

PURPOSE: To assess temperament in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) compared to healthy controls. METHODS: A total of 32 patients diagnosed with acute CSCR and 30 healthy controls matched by age and sex were assessed with the self-report Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory. Central serous chorioretinopathy was diagnosed based on fluorescein angiography and spectral optical coherence tomography. RESULTS: Significantly higher mean scores of harm avoidance in patients with CSCR were found. Differences also were noted in subscales of novelty-seeking and reward dependence. CONCLUSIONS: The patients with CSCR demonstrated less exploratory behaviors, higher risk avoidance, restraint, and low extravagance. They were more quick-tempered, disorganized, and easily frustrated, with a tendency to avoid negative and potentially harmful stimuli, less tolerance to frustration, higher level of insecurity, and higher level of anticipatory anxiety.

[Temperament evaluation of patients with central serous retinopathy, preliminary report]. / Ocena temperamentu chorych z centralna surowicza retinopatia. Doniesienie wstepne.

PURPOSE: To assess differences in temperament in patients with central serous retinopathy and healthy subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 20 patients diagnosed with acute central serous retinopathy was put to the questionnaire: Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory. RESULTS: Lower scores in novelty seeking (NS) (t = -2.43; p < 0.05) scale and its NS2 (t = -2.12; p < 0.05), and NS3 (t = -2.66; p < 0.05) subscales, as well as higher scores in harm avoidance HA4 subscale in CSR patients, were found. CONCLUSIONS: There is a different profile, regarding temperament and character in patients with central serous retinopathy, as compared to healthy subjects.