Chapter 13: The Haunted Mind Summary and Analysis

In Chapter 13, Sacks notes that most hallucinations discussed thus far are nonsensical in terms of their relevance to the patient's life experiences. Some hallucinations, however, prey on one's past experiences, essentially haunting the individual with anguish, grief, horror, guilt, or other powerful emotions. Sacks himself notes a tendency with the loss of his mother to "see" her in crowds, when she wasn't really there. He notes bereavement hallucinations are common, sometimes appearing as ghosts, voices, or simply noises that "feel" as though one's loved one is near. Sacks notes these are much like the "phantom limb" syndrome, where one hallucinates a limb where one has been removed. Often, bereavement hallucinations are comforting, and are thought to be the brain's way of dealing with the powerful emotion of guilt, although at times, the hallucination may be...