ABSTRACT
An aim of the present study was to clinically evaluate mental changes in patients admitted for extracapsular cataract extraction. Eighty patients (27 male and 53 female), mean age 72,2+/-7,2 years, were studied. A clinical-psychopathological examination was conducted. Type of disease attitude, Eysenck neuroticism and psychoticism scores, Taylor anxiety and Beck depression levels mere studied before and after the surgery. Most of patients - 56 (70%) had mental disorders in the pre-surgery period. They were stratified into 3 groups by syndromes. Twenty-seven patients (33,7%) had asthenic-depressive disorders, 16 (20%) - anxiety-phobic disorders and 13 (16,2%) - anxiety-depressive disorders. These disorders disappeared after the surgery in most patients. The greater stability of psychopathological appearances was characteristic of patients with anxiety-depressive symptoms. These patients also demonstrated personality changes (the higher level of neuroticism).
