Charles Bonnet Syndrome
I stumbled onto something fascinating yesterday.Thanks to a TV show (Doc Martin, season 10), I heard about Charles Bonnet syndrome. Wikipedia:
A type of psychophysical visual disturbance in which a person with partial or severe blindness experiences visual hallucinations.
On the surface, that's kind of interesting, but here's more:
The hallucinations associated with Charles Bonnet syndrome can vary widely from simple, repeated coloured patterns to images such as double-decker buses coming into one’s living room or people sitting on the couch.
Double decker buses? Okay, now I'm in.
There's no consensus on cause, but this is tantalizing:
The specific cause of the hallucinations is unknown; however, they are most commonly attributed to deafferentation or lack of true visual input into the brain, which causes a release phenomenon similar to phantom limb symptoms after amputation.5 The deafferentation theory is supported by the results of a study that included 13 normally sighted patients who were blindfolded for 5 consecutive days. Of these patients, 10 reported hallucinations after an average of 1 day.
Note to self: wear a blindfold for consecutive days.
This is another one of those things that affects old people and no one tells us until we get there:
Among older adults (> 65 years) with significant vision loss, the prevalence of Charles Bonnet syndrome has been reported to be between 10% and 40%; a 2008 Australian study found the prevalence to be 17.5%.
Now we get to the mind-blowing detail;
Patients will experience vivid, complex, recurrent visual hallucinations, commonly of faces, animals, or cartoons.
I know this condition can be serious, particularly when it's undiagnosed, because people might act on their hallucinations. However, seeing cartoons would be amazing.
It has been speculated (though not absolutely confirmed) that author James Thurber (who lost an eye to his brother's arrow in childhood) had Charles Bonnet syndrome, which might help explain his imaginative, singular vision of the world.
There was a survey of people diagnosed with this syndrome, and 7% said it actually improved their life as opposed to impairing it. If they're seeing cartoons, I totally understand.
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