Pupil Size in Psychoneurotic Patients

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A significant relationship has previously been demonstrated [Liakos, 1969] between pupil size (corrected for iris size) and ‘neuroticism’ as measured by the EPI. A subsequent attempt has been made in a pilot study to examine the above pupil sizes in relation to standardized measures of clinical subcategories of psychoneurotic disorders (MHQ). Twenty-four patients with psychoneurotic disorders and 13 ‘normal’ subjects comparable in age and sex were examined in this. ‘Static’ pupil size was found to correlate highly with ‘anxiety’ scores in ‘normal’ subjects but not at all in ‘neurotic’ subjects. Correlations between ‘static’ pupil size and phobic, obsessional, psychosomatic and depressive scores were wide ranging and not significant with the small numbers studied. These findings must be regarded with caution and require further testing on larger numbers of subjects. It is suggested that the MHQ may provide a useful psychometric tool in psychophysiological and psychosomatic research.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: