“the Man Who Mistook His Wife For Hat” Is A

Sacks “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For Hat” is a book written in 1985 by a neurologist Oliver Sacks. The book describes some of the case histories of Oliver's patients. The book consists of 24 essays divided into 4 sections, 3 of which this group studied. “Phantoms” “Eyes Right!” “The Disembodied Lady” 

Oliver

Phantom Definition: Phantom is something apparently seen, heard, or sensed, but having no physical reality; a ghost or an apparition. An image that appears only in the mind; an illusion. “A ‘phantom’ , in the sense that neurologists use, is a persistent image or memory of part of the body, usually a limb, for months or years after its loss. “ Oliver Sacks

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Phantom Limb

 Phantom, as it is a psychological disorder that can cause discomfort or pain due to amputation of a part of a body (for example a finger or a limb). However it seems to be essential for the patient to experience this in order to get an artificial replacement for that part of a body to have some sort of perceptual awareness around that replaced part.  This odd disorder occurs when a particular part of a body is amputated and the nerves are terminated at the end of the stump. These nerve endings can become active and they will send signals to the brain. Since that particular part of the body is now missing these signals are not interpreted correctly by the brain and as a result of this the brain can cause unusual responses such as visual images of that part of the body that are photographically exact or completely distorted some can be harmful and painless and others can be painful and dangerously life like.

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Right !

Eyes

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“Mrs S. , an intelligent woman in her sixties , had suffered a massive stroke , affecting her deeper and back portions of her right cerebral hemisphere. She had perfectly preserved intelligence – and humour.” Oliver Sacks 

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A stroke (acute cerebrovascular attack) is rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can cause permanent neurological damage. 

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Eyes Right ! Suffering a stroke Mrs S. lost sight in her left eye. In this particular case apart from loosing her left eye function Mrs S. suffered from some sort of psychological dysfunction. This could be observed by her unusual behaviour . She developed a problem of seeing things and objects that where placed on her left side . For example she wouldn't put make up on left side of her face or she wouldn't eat of the left side of her plate. There was no possible treatment found for this unusual case. However Mrs S. was suggested to turn to the right in a circular motion every time she was looking for something . Unfortunately this was 

The Disembodied Lady Definition: (from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own" and perception) Proprioception is the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body. Unlike the six exteroceptive senses (sight, taste, smell, touch, hearing, and balance) by which we perceive the outside world, and interoceptive senses, by which we perceive the pain and movement of internal organs, proprioception is a third distinct sensory modality that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally. It is the sense that indicates whether the body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other. 

The Disembodied Lady Cristina was advised to have a operation to remove her gallbladder. This operation was a standard procedure and there was nothing to worry about. The night before the operation Cristina had a horrible dream where she could feel things and objects around her. After , Cristina talked to a psychiatrist who told her it was a simple case of pre-operation anxiety. Later that day the dream came true. Cristina felt very weak and limp after some time she could hardly talk and stayed in bed. A specialist physiatrist gave Cristina a physical and was amazed. He established that she completely lost her sense of proprioception and she seemed to had some small level of loss in other senses like pain, touch and temperature. After a spinal tap doctors established that Cristina had suffered from an acute polyneuritis, which is a rare autoimmune disorder destroying nerve function lead 

The Disembodied Lady Cristina’s doctor explained to her that the sense of a human body is given in three things: vision, balance of organs and proprioception. Once one of these senses fail the others try compensate the damage to the body system. After some training and therapy Cristina learned to control her body slightly. She would have to concentrate on a particular part of the body and observe it as she preformed some sort of action. Although there was some major flaws in this form of treatment this was the best solution that was available to this unusual case. Cristina went on living her life with no physical senses and bad motor skills. 

Part 2 For each of the stories we prepared an activity in other to give an example of the patients situation in each case. 

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Phantoms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL_6OMPywnQ 

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Eyes right: game...

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Disembodied Lady: Discussion on how to go about daily activities with out any body awareness and lack of emotions. Talk about the dangers and the flaws of the patients situation. 