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Multiple sclerosis presenting as a pure psychiatric disorder1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Keren Skegg
Keren Skegg*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand
*
2Address for correspondence: Dr Keren Skegg, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
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Synopsis

Using strict diagnostic criteria, 91 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) were identified in a defined population of 112000. Of these patients, 29 were found to have been referred to a psychiatrist at least once. Their psychiatric records were searched for cases of MS presenting as a pure psychiatric disorder. Only 18 of the 30 psychiatric referrals before the diagnosis of MS involved purely mental symptoms, and there was no reason to suppose most of them to be related to MS. This study highlighted the problem of how to define a true psychiatric presentation of MS. The uncovering of two likely candidates among a population-based sample of 91 supported the existence of such a phenomenon, but it was concluded that the only way to ascertain how often purely mental symptoms might be the first manifestation of MS would be to conduct a large population-based study with controls.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , November 1993 , pp. 909 - 914
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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Footnotes

1

Based on an invited paper presented at a Workshop on Neurobehavioural Disorders in Multiple Sclerosis held in Bergamo, Italy (June 1992).

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