Hypersensitivity, Creativity, and The Benefits of Schizophrenic Perceptions
Research into neuronal activation patterns during instances of auditory hallucination has yielded some fascinating insights into the mechanics of schizophrenia's most prevalent symptom. Using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), researchers McGuire, Shah, and Murray (1993) were able to study the cerebral blood flow of men with schizophrenia during their experience of an auditory hallucination. When these brain images were compared, side by side, with images of the same subject during a hallucination-free period, the team found that the part of the brain most active during hallucinations was the Broca's area, an area of the left hemisphere which is associated with the production of speech. This finding surprised many researchers. Since hearing and comprehending a person's voice is a social task which involves the interpretation of language components, cognitive tasks delineated to the Wernicke's area of the brain, it was hypothesized that voice hallucinations would similarly register as activity in this linguistic comprehension location. Yet, the fact that the Broca's area was actively dominant during the hallucinatory phenomenon suggests that the, like physical vocalization, these unspoken inner vocalizations result from the conversion of thought into pre-speech. Yet, the source of those thoughts, before conversion into language by the Broca's area, is subject to a multitude of factors; not only inner factors (ie: cognition, emotional activation, and state of consciousness,) but a wide variance of potential external factors (ie: social, situational, and environmental.) These external factors of perception must be “bracketed” before a single inward source for the schizophrenic's pre-semantic thoughts can be assumed. The complexity of isolating this elusive “source” of the schizophrenic's pre-Brocal thought is compounded by the unique nature of the schizophrenic's normal range of perception, which introduces the influential factor of individual sensitivity.
The Transparent Door: Brilliance Shines Through
The heightened sensitivity of some schizophrenics to their environment, which is often described by symptoms of hypervigilance or hypersensitivity, causes them to be easily overwhelmed by external stimulus which, to another person, may seem quite unremarkable (Robbins, 1993). Yet this increased sensitivity of the schizophrenic to his surroundings, this ability to hear and see more than the typical person, has always been considered pathological; a vulnerability of constitution inhibiting the patient's ability to regulate the intensity of incoming stimulus. Freud recognized this regulatory module in the perceptual chain and conceptualized it as an innate stimulus barrier - a sort of filter designed to limit the “bandwidth” of all we see and hear. More recently this perceptual filter has reappeared in the literature as a cognitive function called latent inhibition (LI)(Carlson, Higgins, & Peterson, 2003). Yet the function of these perceptual filters was also described by the late philosopher and intellectual Aldous Huxley, who referred to them, quite poetically, as “The Doors of Perception” in his book of the same name (1954). While Huxley claimed the whole of one's perception could be increased or expanded by the use of mind-manifesting substances, in his case the ancient religious sacrament peyote (mescaline), he also claimed that certain individuals were simply born with their innate stimulus barrier more relaxed, their “door” slightly more open - letting more sensation in:
“What the rest of us see only under the influence of mescaline, the artist is congenitally equipped to see all the time. His perception is not limited to what is biologically or socially useful. A little of the knowledge belonging to Mind at Large oozes past the reducing valve of brain and ego, into his consciousness. It is a knowledge of the intrinsic significance of every existent” (Huxley, 1954, pp. 9-10)
Huxley's assertion that artists “see more” of the world than the typical individual relates to that commonplace belief that there exists an intimate relationship between visionary genius and hallucinatory madness, the thin line which the rouge luminary is destined to walk. That classic observation of the stereotypical eccentric, the socially-awkward composer, inventor, or artist known for the fantastic products of his unusual mind. It is no surprise, then, that new research in the field of creativity affirms this link between the schizophrenic's perceptions and his creative thinking (Foley & Park, 2005) -- schizophrenics really do see more in the world. These psychologists believe many of civilization's most influential luminaries, Emily Dickinson, Vincent Van Gogh, Issac Newton, and Albert Einstein, lived and worked with symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder. A deciding factor in their success was the ability to organize their novel associations, allowing for the semantic coherence necessary to give that thought expression. The tight coherent nature, and even elegance, of the great thinker Albert Einstein's expansive thought associations are what set his thinking apart from the symptomatically loose associations of full-blown schizophrenics, like his son.
“...moderating factors may allow an individual to override a “deficit” in early selective attentional processing with a high-functioning mechanism at a later, more controlled level of selective processing. The highly creative individual may be privileged to access a greater inventory of unfiltered stimuli during early processing, thereby increasing the odds of original recombinant ideation. Thus, a deficit that is generally associated with pathology may well impart a creative advantage in the presence of other cognitive strengths such as high IQ” (Carlson, Higgins, & Peterson, 2003).
During the early stages of schizophrenia, a period typically ranging from the early to mid-twenties, individuals often describe profound sensations: spiritual awakening, deep mystical insight, and similar peak religious experiences. These experiences coincide with the simultaneous lowering of latent inhibition: that personal perceptual doorway which, when opened, can reveal the ecstatic oceanic beauty of the moment in all its transplendant brilliance.
Discussion: Reconsidering Anna
With this transpersonal perspective on schizophrenia, let's revisit the case of Anna. With the symptoms presented, she was, essentially, a textbook case of paranoid schizophrenia - stamped with the name and numerical code of the disease, and all the social stigma that comes with it. This label of severe mental illness surely had a profound impact on this otherwise highly-intelligent, almost supernaturally-gifted individual, who described being connected to her surroundings, having a direct relationship with spirit, and being “aware of things that other people cannot see." These symptoms, admittedly unusual experiences, essentially sealed Anna's fate within a DSM category, as their extraordinary nature could only be described clinically, using the diagnostic model, as delusion, illness, and hallucination. Anna's highly sensitive perceptual ability was “treated away” using powerful tranquilizers, reducing this beautiful mind to, essentially, a drooling, glaze-eyed shell of her former vibrant self - finally quiet, ignorant, and calm - normal.
As sensationalistic as this description may seem, in my years as a mental health worker, I watched too many Anna's suffer under the dehabilitating effects of the pharmacological model. I watched the pills I gave her transform her from a bright-eyed energetic young girl to a dullened drooling zombie, shuffling lost through cold night hallways, wailing in fear and confusion, wanting only to be held like a baby and told that everything would be alright. I recall Dr. S's response to this “elaborate display” was quick and simple: “double her Thorazine.”