Oliver

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”

 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
 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.

 Eyes

Right !
“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

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.

 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.


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

Eyes right: game...



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.