Response of visual hallucinations to blindfolding

✍ Scribed by Dr. Prakash Naik; Rob Jones

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 215 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.930080412

✦ Synopsis

A 65-year-old lady presented with distressing persistent nocturnal visual hallucinations. These occurred in clear consciousness and remitted in association with blindfolding therapy.

KEY woms-Hallucinations, visual therapy, blindfolding.

Hallucinatory phenomena may occur with increased frequency in old age (Eastwood and Corbin, 1983). Visual hallucinations in the elderly have been described particularly in dementia, delirium, eye pathology, sensory deprivation and bereavement (Lipowski, 1980; White, 1980; Ziskind et al., 1960; Alroe, 1983). Berrios and Brook (1984) found that almost 30% of their elderly patients experienced some form of visual perceptual disturbance. Most of these subjects report seeing figures, occasionally only as faces, but most commonly in full or as shadows walking at a distance. Such phenomena add to the other psychiatric symptoms affecting the elderly and may contribute to dysphoria and poor orientation with resulting psychosocial incompetence (Berrios and Brook, 1984). Visual hallucinations can cause considerable distress and may be difficult to treat. We describe the first case report of visual hallucinations remitting in association with blindfolding therapy.

CASE REPORT

A 65-year-old lady was admitted to a psychogeriatric assessment ward complaining of initial insomnia, loss of weight, symptoms of anxiety and distressing visual hallucinations.

The hallucinations had been present for a year. They occurred as soon as she went to bed. She remained fully awake and found that these percep-Correspondence to Dr P. Naik,