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Case report. Co-morbidity between central serous chorioretinopathy (C.R.S.C.) and narcissistic personality disorder. A reflection on the importance of an integrated approach to this ophthalmological disease through the description of its psychosomatic aspects and the evaluation of the nosographic definition in psychiatry. The central serous chorioretinopathy (C.R.S.C.) is a transudative disease affecting the posterior pole of the eye, that rapidly compromises the visual acuity, although it is a self-limited disease. Narcissism is a personality disorder characterised by an extreme gratification of self, without actually taking care of other people. In the current work both the diseases, along with the respective psychosomatic consequences the patient received, are examined.

The article reconstruct the situation of Italian psychiatry around 1930, using as unusual sources the pages of the Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti. This important work, conceived in 1925 and finished in 1937, is due - as well known - to the strong interest of Giovanni Gentile and to his capacity to involve in the project a great part of Italian intellectual world, without any ideological preclusion. The section devoted to Medical Sciences, including Psychiatry, was directed by Nicola Pende (1880-1970) and Giacinto Viola (1870-1943). A prevalent positivistic approach to science is well testified by their specific attention to preventive and social medicine, researches in Genetics and in biotypological constitutions. Psycopathological and psycological lemmas are very limited, underlying the medical disinterest towards contemporary philosophy and psycology.