Screaming ghost faces
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Worrying news last week revealed that incidents of blind people suffering from anxiety distress have escalated through the national lock-in times that have plagued the past 12 months. gone.
In a year where, at times, the whole of society has felt like it is alive through a horror film, these reports come as an added blow to a community that has suffer particular conflict with social distance and the fact that guided tactile support is necessary when out in public is currently considered dangerous.
The lies are not just about locking, they are a display of a little-known state that was first recorded as far back as 1760.
Charles Bonnet Syndrome or CBS is named after an 18th-century Swiss naturalist and philosopher who noticed his grandfather, with cataracts in both eyes, suffering from vicious lies, despite his good intentions. .
Although little is known about the main psychological and psychological drivers, experts believe that it is exacerbated by fatigue and stress.
Last week, Ophthalmologist Professor Mariya Moosajee ‘s Consultant Adviser told the BBC, “Loneliness, less exercise, experience of depressing news is the key to our motivations – all of which we see in lockdown. “
This is further supported by the UK-based charity, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, which reports a 50% spike in calls about the condition to its national helpline.
Further research from University College London found that half of patients with CBS, which is believed to affect about 1 in 5 patients with severe vision and occur more frequently in elderly patients, say that their lies had become more sinister at the time of locking and 50% said they were now more frequent.
The rare setting was recently featured in the British soap opera Coronation Street.
“Seeing” with the brain
The lies are characterized by neurological changes in the way the eyes and brain communicate due to various eye diseases, such as Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataracts, glaucoma and hereditary digestive disorders.
King’s College Neuroscientist told Dr. Dominic Ffytche, the only worldwide expert on Charles Bonnet Syndrome The Mirror, “The nerve cells in the retina send a steady stream of impulses to the visual pathways, which pass to the visual parts of the brain.”
“Damage to the retina will reduce the flow of pressure. Surprisingly, the brain’s response is not to decrease but to increase the burning cells, and it is this increase that causes breakouts. ”
Also described by some as the equivalent loss of amputee suffering from a “beauty ball,” the loss of vital brain signals can reduce and regulate electrical activity in the visual cortex, causing scenes last for anything from a few seconds, to several minutes at a time.
The lies themselves can be inquisitive, even amusing at times. People have reported seeing cartoon “characters”, unicorns, bubbles, rainbows and beautiful landscapes.
Other images, such as floating musical notes, grids, shapes, mosaics and letters and mathematical equations appear on the wall at home, sound somewhat psychedelic but may not be disturbing. orra.
Living in a horror movie
It is, however, the greater frequency of sinister lies during the long dark months of locking that is of greatest concern.
Ghost faces, star-studded eyes, devilish dogs were plucked and zombies with blood flowed from empty eye sockets.
Strange images, gargoyles, Big Cats circling the garden and figures dressed in timeless costumes are also spotted.
Fortunately, the brain seems to be aware that what it is feeling is not real but as this first-person account shows, the infinite nature of the human imagination means that some people may with CBS travel to some dark places.
Commenting on his personal account of CBS on the National Eye Study Center website, Dr Amit Patel, who lost his sight in 2012 due to hemorrhage in both eyes, said, “I have the personal vision of a young woman covered in blood, mud and tears.
“She is standing in a state of silence and she follows me everywhere – on the train, on the tube, on the street. My wife has even heard me shout to her in my sleep. My guide dog Kika feels like I have a hallucination and she gently puts her head on my knee to comfort me. ”
Lies, especially the most frightening ones, can increase anxiety but there are also real physical risks, such as an increased risk of falling on the street or downstairs if the lies suddenly appear.
Another sad side of Charles Bonnet syndrome is that individuals often suffer in silence. Because of the older age profile of most patients, some fear that the strange images are not related to vision loss but are, instead, an early sign of depression.
Talking helps
Five years ago, Judith Potts launched Umbrella Esme, an organization dedicated to supporting those living with Charles Bonnet Syndrome, in memory of her late mother, who immediately feared mental illness after experiencing the symptoms of CBS.
“People who develop it immediately think they have improved a mental health condition,” Potts said in an interview with BBC News.
“So they don’t trust anyone and they live in their world of uninvited pictures, it’s awful.”
To make matters worse, for those who publish, many GPs and therapists are unaware of CBS so at first they suspect that their patient may be getting some sort of psychology.
However, Professor Moosajee clearly maintains that there is no debate about the authenticity of CBS.
“Ophthalmologists should be aware of CBS. We are all taught about CBS and there is no myth about it, ”she explained in a previous interview.
She continued, “We know for sure that it affects patients and if people are misdiagnosed, it may be from non-ophthalmologists who are unaware of the condition. . ”
If anything good is to arise from this latest rise of CBS cases, both public awareness and the awareness of specialist health care professionals may not be on the rise.
There is currently no cure for Charles Bonnet Syndrome. Although, some medications, such as antidepressants and anti-epileptic drugs, are sometimes used to reduce the symptoms.
With practice, patients may have been able to create their own strategies to keep the vision at bay. These could include accepting certain eye movements such as quick pressure.
It may be effective to reach out to the image, leave the room, change the lighting and create attention by turning on the TV or the radio.
People with CBS are certainly encouraged not to suffer in silence. Instead, they should reach out to friends, family and healthcare professionals, as well as specialist support networks and charities such as Esme’s Umbrella and RNIB, where they can also share their experiences with people. another who lives with the situation.
Further research is needed to better understand the psychology behind CBS and this is likely to include larger-scale clinical studies comparing MRI scans of visually impaired patients. reporting CBS symptoms by those who do not.
In the short term, there would be hope for those unfortunate patients who are currently feeling like they have been living in a horror movie over the past year. , relief may not be too far off.
With national vaccination programs fast-tracked and governments starting to talk about the early stages of Covid-19’s exit strategy, eye-shadow may be slowly declining, once the nightmare is too real that has been circling the outside world for the past year doing the same.