Oliver Sacks is the Jane Goodall of neurology. He has spent his entire professional career observing patients, dutifully recording in his notebooks, and publishing reports of his findings that illuminate how the mind works. Most of his published work tells personal stories of patient experiences. Most notably there is ‘The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat’ (a man with visual agnosia) and ‘An Anthropologist on Mars’ (perceptions of people with autism).
In this TED Talk, Oliver Sacks explains Charles-Bonnet Syndrome – a hallucination syndrome experienced by people who lose their vision. I was surprised to learn that up to 10% of people with vision loss experience Charles-Bonnet hallucinations, but only 1% of them report it because they are afraid of people assuming they are going insane (which they are not).
Check it out, it’s fascinating:
