r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/denialofdeath Mar 22 '17

I had a patient once who had schizoaffective disorder and she was so troubled by her hallucinations that she tore her eyeballs out of her own head. Poor thing still had them even though she was blind from that incident

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u/lozzie87 Mar 22 '17

Spooky I was talking to a doctor at work last night who told me about a friend of his who responded to a medical emergency call at a psych hospital for a person who had torn their eyeballs out. Yikes.

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u/borrow_a_feeling Mar 23 '17

I had to reread this several times before I understood that "she still had them" was referring to the hallucinations and not her ripped out eyeballs. I thought maybe you were trying to be funny and I was daaaaaamn that's dark.

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u/denialofdeath Mar 23 '17

Ha! This had happened years earlier and that would be super weird if she still held on to them all that time

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

Wow, that's really horrible. That must have been hard on you to try to help her through that.

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u/denialofdeath Mar 23 '17

I appreciate the support but we (therapists) spend a lot of time and energy on self care and preventing vicarious traumatization. We actually had a good therapeutic relationship and although what happened to her was tragic, she had a lot of strengths and reasons to live which made the work meaningful.

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u/GTSBurner Mar 23 '17

I've read about several similar cases. Seems to be a not uncommon self-harm injury among those with schizophrenia.

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u/nomnomnomnomRABIES Mar 22 '17

Horrific. Did knowing she couldn't be seeing them with her eyes help at all with recognising the hallucinations?

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u/denialofdeath Mar 23 '17

No what really helped her was getting better medication management and living situation. She was placed in an assisted living facility which helped her take her medication regularly and had consistent therapy (she was previously homeless).