Sensations

Can Anxiety Cause Blindness?

Micah Abraham, BSc

Written by

Micah Abraham, BSc

Last updated October 10, 2020

Can Anxiety Cause Blindness?

Generally people with high levels of anxiety struggle with health concerns, because it eventually becomes too difficult to differentiate between a real health problem and an anxiety created one.

Your vision is just one of the areas that can be affected by anxiety, but can stress and anxiety make someone become blind?

Anxiety and Vision

Stress certainly has an effect on every single function in your body. Anxiety itself is known to affect vision. It can cause the pupils to dilate, which lets in more light which can lead to eye pain. It also can contribute to eye strain, which may lead to more vision problems. Anxiety can cause double vision, blurry vision, and in a few rare cases, hallucinations.

But when it comes to whether or not anxiety can cause blindness, the answer is no. There is currently no evidence that anxiety causes true blindness, as in the inability to see.

Suffering From Blindness

If you have found yourself suddenly blind, or blind for any extended period of time, you'll need to contact your eye doctor. Sudden blindness is often the result of an underlying problem, such as:

  • Eye Damage
  • Alcoholism
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Heavy Metal Toxicity

Blindness may be caused be some medications, and may be the result of behaviors you use to cope with anxiety - such as drug addiction/abuse. But there is currently no evidence that blindness is caused by anxiety. Blindness is one of the few issues that is highly unlikely to be anxiety related, so seeing a doctor is valuable.

Dealing With a Fear of Blindness

What is very common is a fear of blindness, as well as believing that something is causing you to go blind. That is because the vision problems from anxiety can often seem pronounced, and when accompanied by other symptoms, such as eye pain, it often feels like something must be wrong.

Fear of going blind, is a very real fear, especially if your vision has been impacted by your anxiety. So it should be noted that if you haven't gone blind and you find yourself extremely worried about it without medical reason, it is likely a symptom of anxiety.

Overcoming Your Anxiety Over Blindness

The key is to talk to your doctor. Anxiety does not cause blindness. Treating your anxiety will give you the best opportunity to experience a better quality of life.

Questions? Comments?

Do you have a specific question that this article didn’t answered? Send us a message and we’ll answer it for you!

Ask Doctor a Question

Question:

Where can I go to learn more about Jacobson’s relaxation technique and other similar methods?

– Anonymous patient

Answer:

You can ask your doctor for a referral to a psychologist or other mental health professional who uses relaxation techniques to help patients. Not all psychologists or other mental health professionals are knowledgeable about these techniques, though. Therapists often add their own “twist” to the technqiues. Training varies by the type of technique that they use. Some people also buy CDs and DVDs on progressive muscle relaxation and allow the audio to guide them through the process.

Ask Doctor a Question

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