To assess whether Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS) is related to anxiety and if anti-anxiety medications can reduce symptoms of MdDS.

MdDS is a vestibular disorder where self-motion is perceived for an extended period of time after exposure to passive motion such as sea or air travel.  Symptoms of MdDS include perception of rocking, bobbing, or swaying for three days or more.  The pathology is not well understood, limiting treatment options.  Clinical observation suggests that people with personal or family history of mood disorders or vestibular disorders are predisposed to developing MdDS.  A retrospective review was conducted to confirm this observation and to assess whether anti-anxiety medications also reduced MdDS symptoms.

Patients who were diagnosed with MdDS between 2010 and 2019 were identified from medical records.  Demographics, medical history, interventions for MdDS, and improvement status were collected.  Improvement was defined based on the patient’s documented self-report at a follow-up visit.

Out of the 25 patients, two spontaneously improved without medication and four were lost to follow-up.  The remaining 19 patients were all put on anti-anxiety medications such as sertraline or Wellbutrin and 17/19 (89%) reported improvement in symptoms due to medication.

There is a high comorbidity of anxiety/mood disorders in patients with MdDS.  This study suggests that these patients may have a genetic predisposition to neuronal sensitivity to motion in the vestibular center of the brain; the addition of anti-anxiety medications may be able to decrease neuronal sensitivity to motion and lead to an improvement of MdDS.