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Did Oliver Sacks have Charles Bonnet syndrome?
Neurologist Oliver Sacks explains Charles Bonnet syndrome — in which visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in detail, and walks through the biology of this underreported phenomenon.
What did Dr Oliver Sacks suffer from?
Though Sacks resided permanently in the United States, he never relinquished British citizenship. In February 2015 he announced that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The ocular melanoma for which he had previously been treated spread to his liver, and he ultimately succumbed to the illness.
Why is Oliver Sacks important?
Oliver Sacks, M.D. was a physician, a best-selling author, and a professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine. He is best known for his collections of neurological case histories, including The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain and An Anthropologist on Mars.
What does Oliver Sacks think about hallucinations?
SACKS: Well, with any hallucinations, if you can, say, do functional brain imagery while they’re going on, you will find that the parts of the brain usually involved in seeing or hearing – in perception – are, in fact, being active, have become super-active by themselves. And this is an autonomous activity.
Did Oliver Sacks have hallucinations?
Sacks has also had his share of non-induced hallucinations. One day while mountain climbing, he experienced an auditory hallucination after an injury that tore most of his thigh muscle and dislocated his knee. His first impulse was to go to sleep — but then he heard a voice that he didn’t recognize yet trusted.
Is Charles Bonnet syndrome a neurological disorder?
Charles Bonnet syndrome is a neurological disease characterised by clear, recurrent visual hallucinations usually following visual loss. It is often misdiagnosed as psychosis, delirium or early dementia, but patients generally retain insight.