Mental disorders in patients admitted for cataract surgery

An aim of the present study was to clinically evaluate mental changes in patients admitted for extracapsular cataract extraction. Eighty patients (27 male and 53 female), mean age 72,2 7,2 years, were studied. A clinical-psychopathological examination was conducted. Type of disease attitude, Eysenck neuroticism and psychoticism scores, Taylor anxiety and Beck depression levels mere studied before and after the surgery. Most of patients - 56 (70%) had mental disorders in the pre-surgery period. They were stratified into 3 groups by syndromes. Twenty-seven patients (33,7%) had asthenic-depressive disorders, 16 (20%) - anxiety-phobic disorders and 13 (16,2%) - anxiety-depressive disorders. These disorders disappeared after the surgery in most patients. The greater stability of psychopathological appearances was characteristic of patients with anxiety-depressive symptoms. These patients also demonstrated personality changes (the higher level of neuroticism).