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I have started reading "Manic Depression and Creativity" written by psychiatrist Juliam Lieb and came across some interesting revelations on some brilliant artists and scientists. In this book, Lieb explores the often turbulent lives and careers of Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, Ludwig van Beethoven and Vincent van Gogh.
As I have read in several sources, painter Van Gogh appears to have had increased sensitivity to colors during his manic periods ( some people would dispute that these visual hallucinations preceded his epileptic seizures). If one looks at Van Gogh's overall body of work, one cannot help but notice the brilliant colors.
I had no idea that Tesla also suffered from manic depression till I read about it in this book. Nikola Tesla was the Yugoslavian genius of electricity, invented alternating and direct current and contributed to the development of the radio and radar. There is a passage in one of the biographies on Tesla which describes the hyper-acuity of his senses...
"Tesla's senses had always been abnormally acute. He claimed several times in boyhood he had saved neighbors from fires in their own homes when he was awakened by crackling of flames. When he was past forty and carrying on his lightning research , he would claim to hear thunderclaps at a distance of 550 miles.
But what happened during his breakdown was astonishing even by Tesla standards. He could hear the ticking of a watch from three rooms away. A fly landing on a table in his room caused a dull thud in his ear. A carriage passing a few miles away seemed to shake his body. A train whistle twenty miles distant made the chair on which he sat vibrate so strongly that the pain became unbearable. The ground under his feet was constantly trembling.
"The roaring noises from near and far, " he wrote "often produced the effects of spoken words which would have frightened me had I not been able to resolve them into their accidental components." During this period Tesla's pulse fluctuated from subnormal to 240."
This past passage eerily reminds me of a relative who suffers from a mental illness. His hearing is so sensitive at times, even though he is now medically treated, that he has to wear hearing muffs that the construction workers wear when they work even though he may simply be sitting at his desk studying. I used to think this relative had delusions but I think that now , after being more self educated, that it is quite possible that his senses are extremely acute at times- more acute than the average individual.
I wanted to know the psychiatrists' point of view. Are the hearing and seeing senses really acute when patients experience periods of mania?
As I have read in several sources, painter Van Gogh appears to have had increased sensitivity to colors during his manic periods ( some people would dispute that these visual hallucinations preceded his epileptic seizures). If one looks at Van Gogh's overall body of work, one cannot help but notice the brilliant colors.
I had no idea that Tesla also suffered from manic depression till I read about it in this book. Nikola Tesla was the Yugoslavian genius of electricity, invented alternating and direct current and contributed to the development of the radio and radar. There is a passage in one of the biographies on Tesla which describes the hyper-acuity of his senses...
"Tesla's senses had always been abnormally acute. He claimed several times in boyhood he had saved neighbors from fires in their own homes when he was awakened by crackling of flames. When he was past forty and carrying on his lightning research , he would claim to hear thunderclaps at a distance of 550 miles.
But what happened during his breakdown was astonishing even by Tesla standards. He could hear the ticking of a watch from three rooms away. A fly landing on a table in his room caused a dull thud in his ear. A carriage passing a few miles away seemed to shake his body. A train whistle twenty miles distant made the chair on which he sat vibrate so strongly that the pain became unbearable. The ground under his feet was constantly trembling.
"The roaring noises from near and far, " he wrote "often produced the effects of spoken words which would have frightened me had I not been able to resolve them into their accidental components." During this period Tesla's pulse fluctuated from subnormal to 240."
This past passage eerily reminds me of a relative who suffers from a mental illness. His hearing is so sensitive at times, even though he is now medically treated, that he has to wear hearing muffs that the construction workers wear when they work even though he may simply be sitting at his desk studying. I used to think this relative had delusions but I think that now , after being more self educated, that it is quite possible that his senses are extremely acute at times- more acute than the average individual.
I wanted to know the psychiatrists' point of view. Are the hearing and seeing senses really acute when patients experience periods of mania?
