Kate Patterson
Research Mentor(s): David Fresco
Mentor Department: Psychiatry
Authors:
Session: Session 2 (10:00am – 10:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 103
Abstract
Despite growing hope for cures and treatments, at best 10% of individuals with IRD will benefit from these treatments over the next decade. Thus, it is imperative that IRD patients receive all possible therapeutic treatments to lessen their burden. This study looks to seek and validate a methodology to identify and address functional deficits and distress in everyday life for patients with IRD. Our long-term goal is to quantify the difficulties, limitations, and distress experienced by the heterogeneous expressions of IRDs and intervene with comprehensive therapeutics including psychotherapy. Key terms as they relate to this study are as follows. An IRD is an Inherited Retinal Disease such as retinitis pigmentosa in which the individual is destined for legal blindness by age 40-50. Anxiety as defined by the DSM-5, is a mental health condition characterized by excessive and persistent anxiety and worry, measured by the GAD-7. Also defined by the DSM-5, depression is a mood disorder that involves a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest and is measured by the PHQ9 in this study.
