[Mental disorders in multiple sclerosis]

On the basis of clinical and follow up study of 106 patients with multiple sclerosis, including psychological tests and computerized tomography (34 observations), the authors specify the major types of psychic disorders related to this disease and represented in the form of the asthenic, hysteroformative, obsessive, and depressive syndromes, as well as in the form of an initial state with the clinical picture of organic dementia. Correlation of the examination data to computerized tomography findings usually reveals a direct relationship between the degree of psychic disorders and the severity of a cerebral injury. The authors point both to the necessity of controlling the psychic disturbances described and to their importance as a telltale sign in making the differential diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.