Ocular Hysteria

Abstract

Hysteric amblyopia is more than a medical curiosity and should be considered in all instances of amblyopia of unknown cause. A vast majority of the cases are diagnosed through a process of elimination; after thorough ocular examination has revealed no organic cause for the loss of vision, it is labeled “hysterical” because of the purely negative result. If the condition conforms to the characteristic clinical picture, the patient should be referred immediately for psychiatric consultation, since prolonged but reversible physiologic disturbance in the eye can eventually give rise to irreversible organic disease.