June 2022
Volume 63, Issue 7
Open Access
ARVO Annual Meeting Abstract  |   June 2022
Visual hallucinations caused by Charles Bonnet Syndrome are not impacted by the psychosocial factors resulting from COVID-19 restrictions
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Aysha N Kinakool
    Centre for Vision Research and Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Stefania S Moro
    Centre for Vision Research and Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Jennifer Kate Evelyn Steeves
    Centre for Vision Research and Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Footnotes
    Commercial Relationships   Aysha Kinakool None; Stefania Moro None; Jennifer Steeves None
  • Footnotes
    Support  Canada First Research Excellence Fund 2015-00013
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science June 2022, Vol.63, 4229 – A0157. doi:
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    • Get Citation

      Aysha N Kinakool, Stefania S Moro, Jennifer Kate Evelyn Steeves; Visual hallucinations caused by Charles Bonnet Syndrome are not impacted by the psychosocial factors resulting from COVID-19 restrictions. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2022;63(7):4229 – A0157.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract

Purpose : Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) is a poorly understood, debilitating phenomenon following vision loss from common diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and currently has no treatment. Individuals with CBS often experience visual hallucinations in the form of images such as people, landscapes, or patterns that do not exist. This experience is the result of an imbalance between the loss of vision and the active visual brain but is often misdiagnosed as dementia or a mental health condition. Psychosocial factors have been suggested to exacerbate CBS visual hallucinations. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the implementation of public health safety measures including extended periods of total or partial lockdowns to reduce virus transmission. To date, Canadians have undergone several waves of restrictions that may increase the risk of pervasive psychosocial issues from social isolation. The goal of this research is to assess how the social constraints of the current COVID-19 pandemic may affect CBS visual hallucinations.

Methods : We surveyed 39 individuals (M: 69 years, SD: 16 years) with CBS from the CNIB Foundation. Visual hallucinations, anxiety, social isolation, loneliness, and QoL were assessed using: The Specific Psychotic Experiences Questionnaire and modified versions of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 scale, Steptoe Social Isolation Index, DeJong Gierveld Loneliness scale, and the World Health Organization QoL scale, respectively.

Results : 90.6% of patients reported no change (increase: 6.3%; decrease: 3.1%) in average duration and 62.2% reported no change (increase: 21.6%; decrease: 16.2%) in frequency of CBS hallucinations. No significant differences were observed in anxiety (p= 0.514); QoL (p= 0.155); social isolation (p= 0.835); and loneliness (p= 0.296) between participants who reported experiencing a change compared no change in hallucinations.

Conclusions : The social constraints of the current COVID-19 pandemic measured through anxiety, social isolation, loneliness, and QoL do not affect visual hallucinations caused by CBS. This is consistent with the notion that CBS hallucinations are associated with an active visual cortex following vision loss.

This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.

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