Behavior and Psychology – Síndrome de Turner

1. ARE GIRLS WITH TURNER SYNDROME MENTALLY DEFICIENT?

NO. Turner syndrome is not associated to mental illness. The contrary thing can be read in some encyclopaedias, but it is due to a strong lack of information. We conclude that mental illness is not a typical feature of Turner.

What it is typical in these girls is their difficulty for the understanding of the abstract concept, including the numeric and spatial. For this reason, during the school period, they usually have problems with crafts and mathematics.

2. ACCORDING TO THEIR BEHAVIOUR, HAVE TURNER GIRLS ANY CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES?

There are different studies about this topic but we have to say they are sometimes contradictory. However, there are a set of features tat seem to be repeated in these girls:

If we refer to their intellectual ability, it is often normal; they show a special difficulty to understand the space-formal and numeric concept though.

They present a special difficulty in the spatial perception tests and directional sense (up-down/right-left…), the mental arithmetic, too.

They can even show a delay in their emotional maturity, but this is sometimes the reflection of a familiar overprotection because they are usually treated according to their height not their real age. The most traumatic physical features for them are usually short height and infertility.

A low self-esteem can be the result of a bad acceptance and comprehension of the syndrome. Generally, the psychological phenotype is very complex but varies widely from a woman to another.

3. CAN THE PHYSICAL ALTERATIONS SUFFERED BY TURNER WOMEN IMPEDE A NORMAL LIFE?

As seen before, the absence of the second sexual chromosome in human beings causes a set of physical alterations, which varies considerably from one turner girl to another. For example, there are girls or women who show none of the mentioned features (except short height or infertility, usually the most frequent) and there are others who are really more affected. Anyway, none of the alterations impede a complete normal life. Above all, living a normal life or not will depend on the acceptance of the syndrome they suffer.

In their adult age, these women, except in rare occasions, have little developed ovaries which provoke sterility in the great part of the cases. This is the most traumatic feature.

4. WILL THEY BE ABLE TO STUDY AND HAVE A DEGREE LIKE THEIR BROTHERS?

YES. Turner girls have the nervous system not affected; therefore they are not mentally handicapped girls. As referred before, they have problems to understand the numeric and spatial concept, that is why it is possible they prefer to follow a degree in Humanities.

We just keep on repeating they are the same as their brothers in this sense or many others.

5. HAVE TURNER GIRLS A NORMAL MENSTRUATION? MUST THEY FOLLOW A SPECIAL TREATMENT?

The ovaries in Turner girls or women are rudimentary and don’t produce ovules. They are non-functional banded ovaries. Their sexual characters are not well developed, they couldn’t probably have natural menstruations.

When the girl reaches puberty, the doctor will treat her with sexual hormones so that her body will grow the same as another adolescent’s, because in a natural way, she wouldn’t be able to grow or have menstruations.

6. COULD THEY HAVE CHILDREN SOME DAY?

As commented in the former question, except in rare occasions, their ovaries are not functional. This means they don’t produce ovules and therefore they are sterile, but there are some exceptions. In the 5-10% of the patients, the grade of residual ovarian function is enough to start the development of the mammary glands in the puberty, and, a few patients have one or two spontaneous menstruations. Finally very few of them (probably less than 1%) have ovarian function while they are fertile, although some pregnancies have been observed. These cases are usually girls with mosaicism (a combination of different cellular lines).

7. CAN THEY HAVE NORMAL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS WHEN THE MOMENT COMES?

Women with Turner syndrome are completely normal women. Except for their height or sterility, they are not different from the rest of women. They can and must live a completely normal life.

8. CAN THEY BE OPERATED ON SOME OF THEIR PHYSICAL ALTERATIONS?

Most of the physical features can be operated. For example, the winged neck is just skin excess and that is the reason why it is recommended its correction through plastic surgery only in the most distinct cases or when it implies a problem for the self-image of the girl. The low hair implantation can be also corrected and the bones can be lengthened.