Symptoms Of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Behavioral & Personality Changes

PSP patients typically have deficits in their cognitive functions and difficulties with most daily activities, but also display notable personality changes such as they become apathetic, depressed, impulsive, and irritable. One study performed on 154 patients showed that more than half displayed signs of behavioral abnormalities, and experienced apathy, depression, and sleeping problems, with approximately one third, showed signs of agitation, irritability, disinhibition or recklessness, and eating problems. Further studies proved that patients with PSP who experienced negative symptoms or emotions, such as apathy, were similar to apathetic patients with dementia of the frontal lobe, with apathy being the most common negative symptom experienced by PSP patients.

Depression is another common symptom for those with PSP but varies with severity amongst patients. In addition to these negative symptoms, about twenty percent of individuals with PSP have exhibited impaired interpersonal functioning, which affected their engagement in activities with family and friends, poor relationships with family members, issues with communication, and impaired emotional expression. Given the prevalence of many of these symptoms, patients in general who experience behavioral changes are expected to see psychiatrists and other mental health professionals regularly to help manage their symptoms and increase their quality of life.

Photophobia

Another common symptom of PSP, as the disease progresses, is photophobia. Photophobia is the experience of discomfort or pain to the eyes due to light exposure or due to the presence of actual physical sensitivity of the eyes. In relation to PSP, a clinical study was performed on 187 patients, which concluded that forty-three percent of these patients showed symptoms of photophobia. Another study showed that photophobia is significantly greater in clinically diagnosed PSP than in corticobasal degeneration (CBD), which is a progressive neurological disorder that is characterized by nerve cell loss and atrophy of multiple parts of the brain. These study results can help doctors differentiate between both of these diseases due to the presence of photophobia.