Emotional Factors in Primary Glaucoma

Abstract

Emotional factors in primary glaucoma were studied through the use of psychological tests. The MMPI and the DAP tests were administered to 19 patients with primary glaucoma and to a 16-patient control group with nonglaucomatous eye disease matched as to age, sex, race, socioeconomic class, chronicity of eye disease, and degree of visual impairment. We were interested in two major types of comparisons--glaucoma vs. control, and marked vs. minimal visual impairment regardless of the diagnosis. On two of the nine scales of the MMPI significant differences were found that showed the control group to have more and the glaucoma group to have fewer pathological scores. This trend was evident on all other scales but one, although it was statistically not significant. This finding was supported on the DAP test, in which the control group had a significantly higher disturbance score than did the glaucoma group. Comparison of the marked and minimal visually impaired groups showed significant differences on two MMPI scales pointing to greater pathology in the minimally than in the maximally impaired group. On the remaining seven scales the minimal group had higher (more pathological) means than the maximal group, although they were not significant. The DAP test yielded no statistically significant differences between these two groups, although there was a trend in the direction of more pathology among the minimal- than the marked-defect group. No significant differences were found on the MMPI between 10 glaucoma patients having narrow and 9 glaucoma patients having wide filtration angles. When 7 glaucoma patients with high intraocular pressure were compared with 10 glaucoma patients having low intraocular pressure, patients with low intraocular pressure appeared more disturbed on the MMPI than those with high intraocular pressure.