Book contents
- Neurology and Religion
- Neurology and Religion
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part I The Neurological Study of Religion
- Part II Neurology and Religion
- II.I Clinical Conditions
- Chapter 9 Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Dostoyevsky and Irrational Significance
- Chapter 10 Parkinson’s Disease, Religious Belief and Spirituality
- Chapter 11 Beyond Reasonable Doubt
- Chapter 12 Ramadam Fasting and Neurologic Disorders
- Chapter 13 Autism and the Panoply of Religious Belief, Disbelief and Experience
- Chapter 14 Personhood and Religion in People with Dementia
- Chapter 15 Religion and Frontotemporal Dementia
- II.II Therapy
- II.III Death and the Brain
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Chapter 9 - Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Dostoyevsky and Irrational Significance
from II.I - Clinical Conditions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 October 2019
Book contents
- Neurology and Religion
- Neurology and Religion
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Part I The Neurological Study of Religion
- Part II Neurology and Religion
- II.I Clinical Conditions
- Chapter 9 Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Dostoyevsky and Irrational Significance
- Chapter 10 Parkinson’s Disease, Religious Belief and Spirituality
- Chapter 11 Beyond Reasonable Doubt
- Chapter 12 Ramadam Fasting and Neurologic Disorders
- Chapter 13 Autism and the Panoply of Religious Belief, Disbelief and Experience
- Chapter 14 Personhood and Religion in People with Dementia
- Chapter 15 Religion and Frontotemporal Dementia
- II.II Therapy
- II.III Death and the Brain
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
An association of some sort between epilepsy and spirituality, both divine and demonic, has been postulated for millennia (reviewed in Devinsky and Lai 2008). No doubt, this is because people with epilepsy seem to become ‘possessed’ during their seizures, both in the convulsions of the generalised epilepsies and in the strange altered awareness of temporal lobe seizures. In addition, has been the observation that people with epilepsy may show an unusual interest in religion, recently documented in an ancient Babylonian text (Reynolds and Kinnier Wilson 2008). Some date the birth of rational medicine to Hippocrates’ denial that those with the ‘sacred disease’, epilepsy, had mystical power (Todman 2008).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Neurology and Religion , pp. 89 - 100Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
References
Aftanas, L. I., and Golocheikine, S. A.. 2002. Non-linear dynamic complexity of the human EEG during meditation. Neuroscience Letters 330 : 143–6.Google Scholar
Amancio, E. J., Zymberg, S. T and Pires, M. F.. 1994. [Temporal lobe epilepsy and aura with happiness and pleasure: report of 2 cases and review of the literature]. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria 52: 252–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Asheim Hansen, B., and Brodtkorb, E.. 2003. Partial epilepsy with ‘ecstatic’ seizures. Epilepsy and Behavior 4: 667–73.Google Scholar
Aull-Watschinger, S., Pataraia, E. and Baumgartner, C.. 2008. Sexual auras: predominance of epileptic activity within the mesial temporal lobe. Epilepsy and Behavior 12: 124–7.Google Scholar
Bear, D. M., and Fedio, P.. 1977. Quantitative analysis of interictal behavior in temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of Neurology 34: 454–67.Google Scholar
Beauregard, M., and Paquette, V.. 2008. EEG activity in Carmelite nuns during a mystical experience. Neuroscience Letters 444: 1–4.Google Scholar
Benson, H., et al. 1990. Three case reports of the metabolic and electroencephalographic changes during advanced Buddhist meditation techniques. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 16: 90–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Carrazana, E., et al. 1999. Epilepsy and religious experiences: Voodoo possession. Epilepsia 40: 239–41.Google Scholar
Cavanna, A. E., Cavanna, S. and Cavanna, A.. 2010. Epileptic seizures and spirit possession in Haitian culture: report of four cases and review of the literature. Epilepsy and Behavior 19: 89–91.Google Scholar
Devinsky, O., and Lai, G. 2008. Spirituality and religion in epilepsy. Epilepsy and Behavior 12: 636–43.Google Scholar
Dewhurst, K., and Beard, A. W.. 1970. Sudden religious conversions in temporal lobe epilepsy. British Journal of Psychiatry 117: 497–507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dolgoff-Kaspar, R., et al. 2011. Numinous-like auras and spirituality in persons with partial seizures. Epilepsia 52: 640–4.Google Scholar
Fingelkurts, A. A. 2009. Is our brain hardwired to produce God, or is our brain hardwired to perceive God? A systematic review on the role of the brain in mediating religious experience. Cognitive Processing 10: 293–326.Google Scholar
Frank, J. 2010. Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Geschwind, N. 1979. Behavioural changes in temporal lobe epilepsy. Psychological Medicine 9: 217–19.Google Scholar
Gowers, W. R. 1881. Epilepsy and Other Chronic Convulsive Diseases. London: Churchill.Google Scholar
Greyson, B. B., Derr, L. L. and Fountain, N.. 2015. Mystical experiences associated with seizures. Religion, Brain and Behaviour 5: 182–96.Google Scholar
Griffiths, R.R., et al. 2006. Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance. Psychopharmacology 187: 268–83; discussion 284–92.Google Scholar
Griffiths, R. R., et al. 2011. Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences: immediate and persisting dose-related effects. Psychopharmacology 218: 649–65.Google Scholar
Hayton, S., Boylan, L. S., Jackson, S. C., and Devinsky, O.. 2002. Religion and epilepsy. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, Denver, CO.Google Scholar
Howden, J. C. 1873. The religious sentiment in epileptics. Journal of Mental Science 18: 482–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, J. R. 2005. The idiosyncratic aspects of the epilepsy of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Epilepsy and Behavior 7: 531–8.Google Scholar
Jilek-Aall, L. 1999. Morbus sacer in Africa: some religious aspects of epilepsy in traditional cultures. Epilepsia 40: 382–6.Google Scholar
Johnson, M. W., Sewell, R. A. and Griffiths, R. R.. 2012. Psilocybin dose-dependently causes delayed, transient headaches in healthy volunteers. Drug and Alcohol Dependency 123: 132–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khwaja, G. A. S., and Chadhury, N.. 2007. Epilepsy and religion. Annals of the Indian Academy of Neurology 10: 165–8.Google Scholar
Le, C., and Silverman, D. H.. 2011. Neuroimaging and EEG-based explorations of cerebral substrates for suprapentasensory perception: a critical appraisal of recent experimental literature. Psychiatry Research 194: 105–10.Google ScholarPubMed
Lehmann, D., et al. 2001. Brain sources of EEG gamma frequency during volitionally meditation-induced, altered states of consciousness, and experience of the self. Psychiatry Research 108: 111–21.Google ScholarPubMed
Leuba, J. H. 1925. The Psychology of Religious Mysticism. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner.Google Scholar
MacLean, K. A., Johnson, M. W. and Griffiths, R. R.. 2011. Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness. Journal of Psychopharmacology 25: 1453–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mungas, D. 1982. Interictal behavior abnormality in temporal lobe epilepsy: a specific syndrome or nonspecific psychopathology? Archives of General Psychiatry 39: 108–11.Google Scholar
O’Connell, K., Keaveney, J. and Paul, R.. 2013. A novel study of comorbidity between schizoaffective disorder and Geschwind syndrome. Case Reports in Psychiatry 2013: 486064.Google Scholar
Ogata, A., and Miyakawa, T.. 1998. Religious experiences in epileptic patients with a focus on ictus-related episodes. Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 52: 321–5.Google Scholar
Oohashi, T., et al. 2002. Electroencephalographic measurement of possession trance in the field. Clinical Neurophysiology 113: 435–45.Google Scholar
Penfield, W. 1955. The twenty-ninth Maudsley lecture: the role of the temporal cortex in certain psychical phenomena. Journal of Mental Science 101: 451–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Penfield, W. 1958. Some mechanisms of consciousness discovered during electrical stimulation of the brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 44: 51–66.Google Scholar
Persinger, M. A. 1984. People who report religious experiences may also display enhanced temporal-lobe signs. Perceptual and Motor Skills 58: 963–75.Google Scholar
Persinger, M. A. 1991. Preadolescent religious experience enhances temporal lobe signs in normal young adults. Perceptual and Motor Skills 72: 453–4.Google Scholar
Picard, F. 2013. State of belief, subjective certainty and bliss as a product of cortical dysfunction. Cortex 49: 2494–500.Google Scholar
Picard, F., and Craig, A. D.. 2009. Ecstatic epileptic seizures: a potential window on the neural basis for human self-awareness. Epilepsy and Behavior 16: 539–46.Google Scholar
Picard, F., and Kurth, F.. 2014. Ictal alterations of consciousness during ecstatic seizures. Epilepsy and Behavior 30: 58–61.Google Scholar
Picard, F., Scavarda, D. and Bartolomei, F.. 2013. Induction of a sense of bliss by electrical stimulation of the anterior insula. Cortex 49: 2935–7.Google Scholar
Postiglione, A., Milan, G, Pappatà, S, De Falco, C., Lamenza, F, Schiattarella, V, Gallotta, G, Sorrentino, P and Striano, S. 2008. Fronto-temporal dementia presenting as Geschwind’s syndrome. Neurocase 14: 264–70.Google Scholar
Reeves, R. R., Kose, S. and Abubakr, A.. 2013. Temporal lobe discharges and glossolalia. Neurocase 20: 236–40.Google Scholar
Reynolds, E. H., and Kinnier Wilson, J. V.. 2008. Psychoses of epilepsy in Babylon: the oldest account of the disorder. Epilepsia 49: 1488–90.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. K., Robertson, M. M. and Trimble, M. R.. 1982. The lateralising significance of hypergraphia in temporal lobe epilepsy. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 45: 131–8.Google Scholar
Rodin, E., and Schmaltz, S.. 1984. The Bear–Fedio personality inventory and temporal lobe epilepsy. Neurology 34: 591–6.Google Scholar
Surwillo, W. W., and Hobson, D. P.. 1978. Brain electrical activity during prayer. Psychological Reports 43: 135–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tedrus, G. M., Fonseca, L. C. and Hoehr, G. C.. 2014. Spirituality aspects in patients with epilepsy. Seizure 23: 25–8.Google Scholar
Tenke, C. E., Kayser, J., Svob, C., Miller, L., Alvarenga, J. E., Abraham, K., Warner, V., Wickramaratne, P., Weissman, M. M., and Bruder, G. E.. 2017. Association of posterior EEG alpha with prioritization of religion or spirituality: A replication and extension at 20-year follow-up. Biological Psychology 124: 79–86.Google Scholar
Todman, D. 2008. Epilepsy in the Graeco-Roman world: Hippocratic medicine and Asklepian temple medicine compared. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 17: 435–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tremont, G., Smith, M. M., Bauer, L., Alosco, M. L., Davis, J. D., Blum, A. S., and LaFrance, W. C. Jr. 2012. Comparison of personality characteristics on the bear-fedio inventory between patients with epilepsy and those with non-epileptic seizures. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 24: 47–52.Google Scholar
Trimble, M., and Freeman, A.. 2006. An investigation of religiosity and the Gastaut–Geschwind syndrome in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy and Behavior 9: 407–14.Google Scholar
Tucker, D. M., Novelly, R. A. and Walker, P. J.. 1987. Hyperreligiosity in temporal lobe epilepsy: redefining the relationship. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders 175: 181–4.Google Scholar
Waxman, S. G., and Geschwind, N.. 1975. The interictal behavior syndrome of temporal lobe epilepsy. Archives of General Psychiatry 32: 1580–6.Google Scholar
Williams, D. 1956. The structure of emotions reflected in epileptic experiences. Brain 79: 29–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed