Is it possible that a person with no mental illness is considered mentally ill do to hallucinations they are seeing because of Charles Bonnet Syndrome? Is this syndrome widely known in the mental health system? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ...A significant percentage of patients also describe floating, disembodied faces that squirm into their field of vision at random times. These often have wide, unblinking eyes; prominent teeth; and features reminiscent of a stone gargoyle. Images of people are a common occurrence, though familiar faces are seldom seen. Most of the apparitions are strangers, although there are many reports of grieving people seeing their deceased loved ones during such hallucination episodes. These phantom people normally wear pleasant expressions on their faces as they loiter in eerie silence, and they make frequent eye contact with the viewer. Curiously, a great number of these imaginary characters are described as wearing hats, sometimes along with elaborate costumes....
The human blind spot is why people see bizarre stuff and say "I looked right at it!" Example: I heard a guy describe, on a call-in radio show, hearing a "Scree!" noise and seeing under security lights, a large white "bat" with "red eyes" fly away. Since I used to work outside at night and am a fan of raptors...I know exactly what he saw. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! He said "I was lookin' right at it!" Yes, and his brain sketched in the bat face on a perfectly ordinary barn owl... "Scree!" is the noise they make and they have a solid white underside. Very common bird here.
This is not a professional explanation, just an informed attempt to explain at least a portion of the underlying mechanisms of visual recognition. I am not sure this is really an issue of filling in the blind spot. The blind spot is different for each eye and so the brain in putting together vision from both eyes filling in each eye's blind spot with information from the other eye. Things like the white bat, which was likely an owl and Charles Bonnet Syndrome, involve at least to some extent a completely different mechanism. When we see something for the first time we have to pay close attention to detail to recognize what is before us. This is generally most apparent with the young. If you have never seen a bird before you have to look closely to see the details of its shape and coloring. As adults we don't have to see the whole bird or cat or dog or anything we have seen before to build a picture of the whole animal or tree. Most of what we see is filled in from memory and experience from just a fragment of the the image we wind up "seeing" in our minds eye. For people in the process of losing site, seeing say a stair case may not actually provide enough information to recognize it as a staircase. In that case the brain takes what information it does have and pulls something from memory that is similar. I chose the staircase, as example because both a staircase and a hill have some things in common, they both go up or slope upwards. In some cases this can begin to verge on a waking dream state where the mind begins to construct dream like visions based on small visual clues. A case of the imagination taking over where vision begins to fail. What determines the difference between seeing a white bat instead of an owl and a hillside instead of a staircase, as opposed to moving to an almost waking dream state, is unknown. Both seem to be driven by memory and to some extent the encroachment of imagination.
It probably depends upon what part of the mental health system you are referring to. There is a much higher probability that an MD. in psychiatry or even a psychologist doing active research would have some knowledge of the syndrome, than say a social worker or councilor would. Psych techs at an institution would most likely not be aware of any distinction as would many psych nurses be pretty much in the dark. Even among the fully trained MDs it might depend largely on their specialty and experience. I have read a number of books by some leading clinical researchers, where though this particular syndrome was not mentioned, I would be fairly sure that at least the primaries would recognize the syndrome should they be confronted with a patient. On the other hand I would not really count on your run of the mill psych triage center being able to properly diagnose someone walking in off the street. However, in most cases unless an individual is considered to be a threat to the public or theirselves, the only way they would find their way to someone who could properly diagnose the syndrome, would be if they sought them out on their own. P.S. I just ask my sister who was psych tech at a state hospital and later an RN with a BA in nursing, and she did not know about this syndrome. She did say she got straight As on all of her class work and state exams required for certification.
At least in California where I live I do not think it would get to that point unless it also involved some other underlying mental condition. What I have read about this syndrome is that most people suffering from it are aware the the images are not real. If they were to tell even an ER Dr, "I see things I know are not real." They would most likely not be considered mentally ill. They would mostly be referred to some specialist or series of specialists in an attempt to discover then root cause. Crazy people don't know what they see is not really there!
Very few people with mental problems are considered legally insane (i.e. not responsible for their actions.) There are a wide variety of mental ailments that are treatable or manageable and do not result in a diagnosis of insanity.
There is a really wonderful TED talk by Oliver Sacks about Charles Bonnet Syndrome; if you are interested I highly recommend it: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/oliver_sacks_what_hallucination_reveals_about_our_minds.html
How long does it take to leave a visual impression from what read ??? What is the delay effect when you watch T.V. ( High def cable ) ? How bout religious impressions from your peers ? Your all delusional
hmmm, sounds like a good science fair experiment for my daughter. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
But according to the video, it only happens to 10% of those who become visually impaired. And it can take years to manifest.
You should be aware that this condition usually only occurs in people who are essentially blind or going blind. It is somewhat akin to a "phantom limb" a person with an amputated limb sometimes experiences. So the people affected by it are generally quite aware they are experiencing hallucinations. After all, they know they are blind. Therefore, I doubt very many people would end up institutionalized as a result of this.
