Norman's Auditory Hallucination

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” has received wide praise for its accurate depiction of madness and the symptoms attributed to mental breakdowns (Shumaker 1985).   While these symptoms may seem obvious from today’s psychological perspective, Gilman was writing at the close of the 19th century when the discipline of psychology was still emerging out of a rudimentary psychiatric approach to treating the mentally ill. Though doctors have attempted to write about the treatment of insanity since ancient Greece, the history of madness has most often been characterized by a series of popular images, images that may have stunted the

8 sane individuals (dubbed “pseudopatients”) attempted to be admitted to 12 psychiatric hospitals by solely complaining that they had been hearing an unfamiliar and often unclear voice that said “empty,” “hollow,” and “thud.” The 12 hospitals selected for the sample were chosen in order to generalize the study’s findings and they varied in location, staff-to-patient ratio, and age. The symptom of hearing a voice saying those particular words was chosen as there were not any reports of existential psychosis in the literature of the time. (Rosenhan,

Jim Stevens’ poem, Schizophrenia, gives readers an insight of how the mind of a schizophrenic operates and how the disorder affects an individual. Stevens creatively reveals the main idea through his use of the elements of imagery, diction, and style. He does so, specifically, by his heavy use of metaphors. To demonstrate imagery, Stevens links the devices, extended metaphor and personification, and also relies on onomatopoeia, which make it easier for Stevens’ audience to visualize and understand the mind of a schizophrenic individual. Moreover, he heightens his level of diction through creating double meanings out of common words, which begin to symbolize the symptoms of a schizophrenic. By his short sentences and the way that each stanza

Schizophrenia is a complex psychotic disorder evident by impaired thinking, emotions, judgment and behaviors. The person’s grasp of reality may be so disordered that they are unable to filter sensory stimuli and may have intense perceptions of sounds, colors, and other features of their environment. Although there are different levels of severity in symptoms, the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (Fundukian, Ed., 2014) states that schizophrenia may typically interfere with a person 's ability to think clearly and to know the difference between reality and fantasy. People with schizophrenic symptoms have hallucinations and delusions, and often have difficulty with everyday life. It is a complicated disease that is not well understood and carries significant stigma for its sufferers.

The cognitive explanation acknowledges the role of biological factors in schizophrenia, suggesting that the basis of the condition is abnormal brain activity producing visual and auditory hallucinations. Further features of the disorder emerge as people try to make sense of the hallucinations.

55. As discussed in the chapter's "Continuity and Change" section, what might Théodore Géricault have aimed to capture in his series of portraits of the insane?

Auditory processing disorder (APD) is a general diagnoses for disorders related to the brains inability to process auditory information correctly. Children with APD have normal development of their outer, middle, and inner ear. Thus, the hearing in the child is satisfactory. However the disability is in the brains lack of ability to understanding and decoding sounds, specifically sounds which compose speech.

A synonym for insanity is lunacy which has its origins in becoming affected by the changes of the moon. Defining insanity is especially relevant in reading Leonora Carrington’s memoir Down Below which is an “account of the experience of being insane” (Warner). In the narrative, she recalls the events leading up to her psychotic break during the breakout of WWII and her subsequent time in a mental institution. Considering Carrington’s narrative voice, Marina Warner describes an “antimony” in the text between “rational” and “irrational” narration. Warner understands “rational” narrative to be “composed” and “accurately recalled” that is that the narrative is believable to be the truth.

Researchers went on to discover that an extreme life even or a significant amount of anxiety was a major factor in the emergence of negative auditory hallucinations. While this is true for many sufferers of schizophrenia, Lori did not report any history of abuse or extreme anxiety before her emergence of symptoms. In fact she grew up in a caring and loving environment. The most popular held perspective though is not caused by environment but is rather biological, this theory is called the medical model. The model views mental illness as an issue of brain chemistry rather than caused by childhood trauma or abuse. The model also views the solution as a chemical one, otherwise known as prescription medications (Shorto, 1999). Since Lori experienced very little anxiety and was a happy child and adolescent growing up, her story speaks more the medical model. According to Thomas, Bracken, and Leudar (2004), “Most people who hear voices, whether in schizophrenia or as part of a bereavement reaction, struggle to make sense of the experience” (p. 22). One of Lori’s major turning points to getting better was recognizing she was ill and that the voices were the inner workings of her brain conveying her worsts fears to her.

In order to understand how insanity affected these artists’ works, the ways they developed it must first be examined. The first signs

Within reading the first few lines of the story, the narrator has revealed to the audience two symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, anxiety and auditory hallucinations.

Static and crackling noises are audible from the TV. In schizophrenic patients, visual hallucinations are less common, than auditory. Nonetheless, patients do still experience visual hallucinations, such as Romulus in this

“To some extent insanity is a form of conformity; people are always selling the idea that people who have mental illness are suffering. But it’s really not so simple…I think mental illness or madness can be an escape also” (qtd. in “John Forbes Nash”). To many “normal” people, the terms “insanity” or “madness” portray a negative connotation-- the unfortunate ones “suffer” from mental illness. However, brilliant mathematician and Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash, who has paranoid schizophrenia, cherishes his unique condition as a means of retreat from the brutalities of reality (“John Forbes Nash”). Since ancient times, people have observed the link between madness and creative genius. Indeed, research has proven that the two conditions of

First of all, the narrator heard sound that is from heaven and hell. “I hear many things in heaven and hell.” ( page 202 ) Since no one can things from heaven or hell, that making him insane. He also hear acute sound.

I find myself lying in bed, drifting ever so closely to sleep. My body slowly numbs into a more rested state. Abruptly, I am awakened by an incredible force that is pinning my entire body down at once. It is overwhelmingly strong. My limbs wildly try to fight back only to find themselves powerless to this unseen...something...what it is I am unsure. I am physically unable to move a muscle. I try to scream. The noise won't come. I try to scream louder. Still nothing. The more I try to push it off it pushes down harder and harder on me. I am unnerved by the fact that I see nothing causing this intense pressure. I feel breathless. I wonder if I've officially lost my mind. Helplessly, I begin to realize there is nothing I can do to stop this from happening. I give in, accepting defeat. Slowly now the force begins to recede. I find myself making weird babbling noises, grabbing deliriously at my pillows and blankets. I slowly regain control of my muscle movements. And there I am. Still lying in my bed. Yet now I lay terrified, confused, and unsure of what just came over me.