NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

ACTIVITY BASED ASSIGNMNET

NIVYA SABU

II MSC PSYCHOLOGY
SEMESTER 3
2023-2024

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. DEVI N.P.

PSYCHOLOGY
 CEREBRAL BLINDNESS AND HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS

CEREBRAL BLINDNESS

This type of blindness is a disorder where damage to the brain prevents normal vision. It is a

condition where the brain has trouble processing and understanding signals sent from the

eyes. With this condition, you may experience varying degrees of sight. Total improvement is

not guaranteed, even with therapy. It is also known as cortical vision impairment (cerebral

blindness). It is the leading cause of vision loss among children in the United States. These

types of vision problems occur due to processing problems in the brain, not defects in the

eyes themselves. While cerebral blindness is less frequently seen in adults, the condition can

affect individuals of all ages. Getting a proper diagnosis can be difficult, but it opens doors

for visual rehabilitation and support options.

Normally, the eyes send electrical signals to the brain, which are turned into the images you

see. However, depending on where the brain has been affected, people with cerebral

blindness may have loss of vision, dimness of vision, or a defect in their visual field.

Incomplete cortical blindness is much more common than complete blindness.

Signs of cerebral blindness in young children can include distinct color preferences,

preferences for looking at lights and the sun (or they may be extremely sensitive to light),

problems recognizing faces or objects, difficulty with unfamiliar visual stimuli and

preferences for certain head positions when viewing objects. Adults with cerebral blindness

may have better vision when viewing moving objects as opposed to stationary objects, a

delayed visual response, better visual responses for near objects than for distant objects,

difficulty with complex visual groupings and environments and other disabilities like cerebral

palsy, epilepsy, or hearing loss. Cerebral blindness is often caused by an injury to the brain.
It can also be caused by a lack of oxygen or blood to the brain (frequently due to a stroke),

fluid buildup in the brain or hydrocephalus, seizures, an infection that reaches the brain and

certain genetic conditions.

cerebral blindness is most common in babies and young children, but it can also develop in

adults. Premature babies are more likely than full-term babies to have cerebral blindness.

Adult cerebral blindness can develop after a traumatic brain injury, such as a head injury or

stroke. War veterans may be at higher risk of vision problems due to combat injuries.

There’s no cure for cerebral blindness. In children, new connections can form as the brain

matures, helping them to overcome an initial injury or deficit. For some, this could mean that

their cerebral blindness will improve. Vision therapy can also help people make the most of

their vision. Some people affected by cerebral blindness can get better in time on their own

for reasons that are not fully understood. A 2020 study used alarming visual stimuli to try to

anticipate recovery from cortical blindness, but much more research into why recovery does

or does not happen is still needed.

The cause of cortical blindness should be addressed first if possible. For example, a stroke

should be treated to prevent additional problems. As soon as possible, an individual should

undergo visual training and rehabilitation.

Three types of treatment include:

 Restitution therapy: This is used to recover visual field deficits. A participant will detect

multiple light spots on a black screen across blind and normal visual fields.

 Compensation therapy: This helps people to compensate for vision loss by using

saccadic (small, rapid, jerky) eye movements. This allows people to capture images that

would otherwise fall into a blind part of their vision field.

into the blind side of the visual field to an area where they can be seen.

It’s important to note that people with cortical blindness can also have other vision problems

that impact the eye itself. In these cases, glasses or eye muscle surgery may actually help to

improve their vision.

HYSTERICAL BLINDNESS

Hysterical blindness is a condition in which patients lose their ability to see. Since "hysterical

blindness" has lost favour in recent years, the official title for this ailment is now "conversion

disorder." Patients who are affected think that they can't see while in fact their eyesight is still

functional. The condition must be ruled out as the cause of visual loss before it can be

diagnosed. Treating any underlying psychological distress is often the focus of treatment.

This condition's symptoms appear suddenly. Patients may describe losing vision in both eyes,

in one eye entirely, or in only one eye. Sometimes the loss of ability to see can be

accompanied by other deficits, such as the inability to move half of the body. Often patients

express a lack of concern. Making the diagnosis of hysterical blindness typically requires an

ability to fully understand the patient's emotional states and the recent events in their lives,

and it also requires performing a nuanced physical exam.

The symptoms are frequently brought on by emotional discomfort. Although individuals

claim to be blind, there are actually no neurological impairments. They have the ability to

narrow their pupils in response to light or when focussing on nearby things. Patients may

squint or blink in response to objects being rushed towards their faces, and they may squint or

blink when instructed to look at something far away. In some cases, patients may be caught

reading or watching television when they believe no one is watching them.

other conditions do not. The menace reflex is an eye blink response produced by rapidly

approaching the corner of the eye with a menacing object. While the optokinetic reflex

consists of jerky eye movements when the patient gazes at a rapidly moving series of objects

such as rotating striped drum. The electroencephalogram has also proven of use in diagnosis

in this situation. Most normal subjects show the characteristics 9 - 13 cycles per second

alpha rhythm in the posterior regions of the brain with the subject relaxed with closed eyes

and this activity disappears from the record when visual stimulation is received. The posterior

Alpha rhythm is absent in cases of cerebral blindness, being replaced by slow waves and

there is no response in the record to opening and closing the eyes. The presence of a normal

reactive Alpha rhythm should contradict a diagnosis of cerebral blindness.

These conditions are thought to be a diagnosis of exclusion. In other words, other more

serious medical conditions should be ruled out before assuming that a patient has this

condition. Patients who have had damage to the parietal lobes of their brains could have

similar symptoms. A condition called multiple sclerosis can cause short-term neurologic

deficits, and is another of the diagnoses that should be considered before diagnosing

hysterical blindness. Treatment of hysterical blindness focuses on alleviating any underlying

psychological stress. Patients might benefit from psychotherapy, where they talk to a trained

therapist about their thoughts and experiences. Medications to treat co-existing depression or

anxiety could be used. Some psychiatrists and psychologists have also used hypnotherapy as

an approach towards recovering patients' belief in their ability to see, although the use of this

technique is not well-proved or fully accepted.

A simple and readily available test the ishihara pseudo isochromatic colour plates proved

useful in 4 cases describe by Bourke and Gole, 1994. A review of functional vision lose with
case reports is provided by Hoffman and Wilson, 1994. The detection of hysterical and

related disorders using neuro psychological assessment is discussed by Walsh (1991).

REFERENCES

Crider, C. (2023, April 4). Cortical Blindness: What this means for your eye health.

Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/eye-health/cortical-blindness#takeaway

Psychogenic Blindness (n.d.). Encyclopedia.com.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/psychology/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-

press-releases/psychogenic-blindness

Sarkar, S. (2023, May 23). Cortical blindness. StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560626/

What is hysterical blindness? (2023). www.wise-geek.com. https://www.wise-geek.com/what-

is-hysterical-blindness.htm