Can epilepsy reveal the secrets of perception?

We’re exploring the secrets of bliss – with neurologist and epilepsy specialist Fabienne Picard of the Medical School of Geneva. Fabienne became fascinated by a rare condition called “ecstatic seizure” after reading the work of 19th century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. He used his own experiences with epilepsy as inspiration, in particular a profound and intriguing feeling that would strike him just before the seizure itself. He wrote about how, for a few moments, all of his doubts and anxieties disappeared, and the world felt perfectly vivid and clear. “I feel entirely in harmony with myself and the whole world,” he wrote, “and this feeling is so strong and so delightful that for a few seconds of such bliss one would gladly give up ten years of one’s life, if not one’s whole life.” Fabienne asked her patients whether any of them had similar experiences, and found that some did, they’d just never had the opportunity to talk about it in conventional consultations. She has identified dozens of new cases, which has enabled her to pin down which part of the brain is involved, and even trigger this feeling in people who don’t have this kind of epilepsy.  I spoke to Fabienne about her patients, what she thinks is happening in their brains, and whether we might all one day be able to benefit from such episodes of bliss -- without the devastating seizures that follow.LINKS Fabienne’s home page at University Hospitals of Genevahttps://www.hug.ch/en/neurology/dr-fabienne-picard Ecstatic or mystical experience through epilepsy: 2023 paper by Fabienne & colleagueshttps://direct.mit.edu/jocn/article/35/9/1372/116669/Ecstatic-or-Mystical-Experience-through-Epilepsy Insular stimulation produces mental clarity and bliss: 2022 paper by Fabienne & colleagueshttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ana.26282Epilepsy and ecstatic experiences: 2021 paper by Fabienne & colleagueshttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/11/1384Fabienne’s talk to the Buddhist monks at Plum Villagehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M16k8Djz29A&t=1957s Epilepsy in the artistic creation of Dostoevsky: 2014 reviewhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2173580814000686 Dostoevsky’s epilepsy: 1990 case reporthttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2161565/ *** Subscribe for new episodes every Monday.*** Follow us on Instagram @wildthoughts_pod*** Find edited highlights on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhB4lyBDyjTliuz_h5oHwN6H8HoxS7qWLWhere The Wild Thoughts Are is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yadahttps://www.yada-yada.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.