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.