She has been
using a blind dog to help her and has trained herself to be independent in the
dark.
‘Psychological interruptions are as important as physiological in effective brain activity.’
The
world would have continued to remain in darkness if a sudden revelation hadn't
occurred.
Multiple Personality
Disorder
B.T
suffered from a multiple personality disorder, which is a psychological
condition in which the individual has separate personalities. The personalities
are often unique and are united by a common emotion like anger, fear or even
hatred.
In
B.T's case, she assumed 10 different
personalities, some of whom spoke only in English while others were fluent in
German. B.T is a German who lived in Britain during her childhood days.
Her Therapy Classes
Multiple personality disorder (MPD) is 'treated' by
psychotherapy sessions with a trained psychologist with repeated sessions every week. The individual is encouraged to 'come out' with the different personalities and the therapist try to 'solve' their issues.
A
high rate of MPD is noticed among Americans and this could be due to the over
indulgence of psychotherapists and psychologists.
In
B.T's case, her therapy classes could have helped her 'see' again. Her
therapists, Hans Strasburger and Bruno Waldvogel, believe that she regained her
sight suddenly when she read a word from a magazine when she was present as a
13-year old boy. She slowly began to recognize
words but couldn't discern individual letters initially.
Her
'sight' was restricted to only a few of her personalities while she continued
to remain blind as other personalities.
Testing to Prove She Was Indeed Blind
B.T
could see again when she was a German boy but was unable to when she assumed
the personalities of two more identities. This puzzled the doctors initially as
her eyes remained open and there was no physical trace to suggest that she was
blind.
Doctors then attached
electrodes to her brain to study brain activity. It was found that there was no brain activity corresponding to sight when B.T assumed the two 'blind' personalities while there was normal sight associated activity when she assumed other personalities.
'It's All in the Mind'
The
curious case of B.T shows conclusively that the mind has the ability to shut off and on mechanisms, even involuntary functions like sight, leaving the world in darkness.
Doctors
now state that her initial diagnosis of brain damage may not be true and that
her condition may have been more a result of a directive from the brain, making
it psychological rather than physiological.
This
news reiterates the power of the brain to heal and a realization of how there
could be areas of the brain that are yet untapped, storing mysteries and hidden
talents which ought to be unleashed in every individual.
References :
1.
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/neurological_institute/center-for-behavorial-health
/disease-conditions/hic-dissociative-identity-disorder
2. Strausburger,
Waldvogel; "Sight and blindness in the same person: Gating in the visual
system", Psych J, 2015
Source: Medindia
