Using the Theories of Joseph Babinski to Manage Functional Vision Loss

To report our use of persuasion to treat patients with functional vision loss and to place them in the context of both Joseph Babinski's theories on hysteria and the current literature on management of functional vision loss.

Conversion disorders, such as functional vision loss, can develop in response to a traumatic event. Recent functional imaging studies have found that, rather than being malingerers, patients with conversion disorders show changes within neuromodulatory pathways, suggesting organic dysfunction rather than a purely psychological disorder.

We conducted a retrospective analysis of 8 consecutive patients (7 female, 1 male; mean age 16 years) who had presented to a university-based neuro-ophthalmology clinic with vision loss from a conversion disorder. The patients had been given a lengthy visual task to perform at home, with the suggestion that their vision would improve by the time they completed the task.

All 8 patients had evidence of a dissociation between real and perceived visual acuity and fields. All the patients performed the assigned visual task at home, and all either reported improvement or showed improved visual function at follow-up.

A century after Joseph Babinski proposed using persuasion in managing patients with vision loss from a conversion disorder, we report that his method remains a viable and pathophysiologically sound option. Future case-controlled studies that include functional magnetic resonance imaging, other neurophysiologic imaging, and neuroradiographic evaluation may strengthen the correlation between persuasion therapy and recovery of normal vision.