title: Psychogenic hearing loss with panic anxiety attack after the onset of acute inner ear disorder.
abstract: A very rare case of a 50-year-old female showing psychogenic hearing loss with a panic anxiety attack that complicated an acute organic sensorineural hearing loss is reported. At the first visit to our clinic, the patient showed left sensorineural hearing loss with an inner ear disorder pattern. Five days after the onset, her left hearing threshold markedly increased without any subjective signs. On the next day, she suddenly experienced a severe panic attack with anxiety. After the attack, she felt mildly anxious and depressed. A combined therapy using primary corticosteroid therapy for the acute inner ear disorder, psychiatric counseling based on cognitive therapy and the administration of a minor tranquilizer was performed. Her left hearing threshold recovered to within normal ranges except in the high-frequency ranges immediately after the treatment. This case was considered very rare because: (1) the panic anxiety attack occurred in the conversion disorder as psychogenic hearing loss and (2) the psychogenic hearing loss complicated the primary sudden deafness. We suggest that otorhinolaryngologists should have psychiatric knowledge and be able to treat psychogenic hearing loss as a primary care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Fukui Medical University, Fukui, Japan. morimomo@d7.dion.ne.jp
authors.forename: Shigehito
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Shigeharu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fujieda
authors.forename: Takehito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Takehisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D003291:Conversion Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D004427:Ear Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D007758:Ear, Inner; D005260:Female; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology