[Clinical and psychometric findings in spasmodic torticollis]

Abstract

In a previous study screening for psychopathological symptoms in a sample of 256 patients with spasmodic torticollis had resulted in 27% of patients, whose mean score of the GSI of the SCL-90-R was above the double standard deviation of the control group of normals (Scheidt et al. 1994). In this study the self-reported psychopathology of a subsample of 19 TS patients was controlled for its agreement with a clinical assessment in a psychiatric interview. The results of the study confirm the validity of the SCL-90-R as a screening instrument for psychological distress and psychopathology. However a tendency for social desirability in a subgroup of patients might lead to underestimate the degree of psychological distress in this patient group and might als account for some of the discrepant findings concerning psychological distress and psychopathology in TS in former studies. Furthermore the clinical assessment revealed a high psychiatric and psychosomatic morbidity prior to the onset of the spasmodic torticollis as well as a high frequency of traumatic life events (e.g. bereavement) in the patients premorbid history. In addition to coping with a crippling neurological condition concurrent psychopathology in TS therefore should be considered also in terms of the individuals premorbid psychological vulnerability.