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Our Experience: The Psychosocial Impact Of Facial Palsy.

Walker D, Hallam M, Ni Mhurchadha S, McCabe P, Nduka C. Clin Otolaryngol. 2012 Sep 20.

Aims

  • To highlight the prevalence of psychological morbidity in patients with facial palsy
  • To investigate for any associated risk factors in the development of mood disorders in facial palsy
  • To discuss the benefit of early targeted psychological therapy
  • To assess the usefulness of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for use in facial palsy
  • To demonstrate a model for multi-disciplinary management of facial palsy

We found that a high proportion of patients with facial palsy due to a number of causes and with a range of severities, suffer with anxiety and/or depression. In our cohort approximately 60% of patients scored sufficiently high on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to warrant referral. Our multi-disciplinary clinic model stresses the importance of having psychological assessment as a routine part of the management of these patients.