Friday, August 16, 2013

let's talk about hallucinations.

Either I have an impeccable imagination or I have been having hallucinations for most of my life. I mean really, as a child, I saw a lot of things. No one really thought much of it until I couldn't sleep for most of 1993 due to "seeing" someone outside my door. I still can't sleep with my door open, is that strange? Enough about my crazy, let's hear from Dr. Oliver Sacks who has researched these "sensory deceptions" to find that they are much more common than you might think. And not only in the sixties.



Dr. Sacks wrote Hallucinations with the goal to de-stigmatize those who experience them, proving with first hand experiences that those who hallucinate more often times than not, do not have psychiatric issues.  That makes childhood me feel better. In the book, Sacks tells us the story of hallucinations, covering every base with historical background, scientific research, and a large number of clinical cases he has consulted on, following up with how hallucinations have impacted that specific person's life. As usual, Sacks is the king of covering a subject, and he doesn't let you down with hallucinations, keeping everything entertaining AND fascinating.

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