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Lhermitte, Professor Jean - Visual Hallucination of The Self – 07 2 Diseases which Can Produce the Phenomenon; Infectious diseases, and especially typhus
Identifier
025273
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL LONDON SATURDAY MARCH 3 1951 - VISUAL HALLUCINATION OF THE SELF BY JEAN LHERMITTE, M.D. Honorary Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Paris
Diseases which Can Produce the Phenomenon
Infectious diseases, and especially typhus, seem also apt to produce this strange splitting of personality.
I recently saw a young woman who was taken, the day after her wedding, with acute mental confusion and agitation. This patient thought she could see hands and faces on the wall of the room. When she was quieter she had the feeling that someone was standing behind her chair. She turned round and saw a young woman in the white dress she had worn the previous day, and she realized that this strange visitor was herself.
One of my colleagues was going to hospital one morning. He was tired and shivery. Suddenly he saw before him a man walking with difficulty. He realized he knew this man. It was himself. When he reached the hospital the vision vanished. (Sivadon.)
This phenomenon of the double can be produced by many other diseases of the brain besides epilepsy. It appears in general paralysis, in encephalitis, in encephalosis of schizophrenia, in focal lesions of the brain, in post-traumatic disorders; but what I want to lay stress upon is the fact that the apparition of the double should make one seriously suspect the incidence of a disease.
The source of the experience
Lhermitte, Professor JeanConcepts, symbols and science items
Concepts
DoppelgangerSymbols
Science Items
Activities and commonsteps
Activities
Overloads
Bacterial infectionEncephalitis
Epilepsy
Fungal infection
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Typhus
Viral infection
Suppressions
Brain damageParalysis, amputation and nerve system damage
Schizophrenia