I showed a video to a couple of my classes yesterday that upset one of my good students.
It was a video demonstrating the amazing plasticity of the human brain (it's ability to adapt and change). It told the story of a little 3-year-old girl that had so many seizures on the left side of her body that they had to do a hemispherectomy, remove the entire right hemisphere of her brain. She is now a teenager and I blogged about her several months ago ("I have to tell the boys I only have 1/2 a brain").
While we were watching the video of the seizures that violently jerked the toddler's body I noticed that one of my female students was crying. After class I talked with her to make sure she was okay.
She explained that she has had seizures all of her life that are now controlled by medication, but she had never actually seen a seizure in another little girl before. It forced a flood of emotions to the surface that she had never experienced before. She had always been able to talk about her seizures without difficulty.
What was different this time?
Those who suffer from seizures report that there is a disconnect of their body from their awareness so they don't actually "experience" the seizure. They just return to awareness after it is over.
A form of "projection" took place during the video. My student projected herself onto the little girl. She was seeing herself having the seizure, and experienced something she had never experienced before - herself having a seizure.
I would suspect that her own seizures have become "real" to her in a way they never were before. That is not a bad thing.
February 2, 2010
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9 comments:
I agree with the girl from class as me being the mom of a little girl this video was very hard for me to watch, I had to turn away a few times. I never knew about the awareness while having the seizures It must have been disturbing for the girl in class, hope shes ok!!
I'm assuming I am that girl in your class and I have to say your assumptions and thoughts are quite right.
This seems no different than a person living bad experiences in their life. I believe your brain blocks out events you can't handle(hence,"GOD does not give you more than you can handle"),then later seeing a movie that brings back all the emotions.
Katherine Smoot
Developmental Psyc. MWF Muskogee
It was also hard for me to watch that clip. My mother had seizures for four years until she died. I remember sitting next to her holding her head so she wouldn't hit it on the floor. One time she was concious while having one and told me that she was drowning. Watching that 3 year old girl was like watching my mother all over again. My mother never wanted to watch any other person have a seizure i guess because she was afraid of knowing what it looked like and how it made others feel.
I never knew that a person who had seizures were never aware of what went on during one. I am so thankful that they do not have to experience that. I can only imagine how painful that must have been for the student in class who seen that video. Reading this blog made me cry, Who ever the student was I really hope that she is ok.
That would just be a terrible ordeal to see. I couldn't imagine what it felt like for that girl to see that and think about the past when she had seizures. I've never actually seen anyone have a seizure, at least not in front of me but i have from videos and stuff like that.
This sounds pretty intense and makes sense. My twin brother has had mild seizures and had a small lapse when he was driving on the highway. Everything was fine, but it scared the crap out of everyone. it is not a fun thing to experience.
I very much disagree with Ms. Smoot. It is not like recalling a bad memory. It's not even a memory it is a realization on it's own. That was a very bold comment on her part.
Aww Jordan i love you! and sorry this made you feel this way!! and i highly disagree with Ms.Smoot i know people that have seizures and when the wake up and people are all around them staring at them they have no clue what happend or why your staring at them.. so i dont think its a bad memory i think it happening to someone else and you getting to see it makes you realize how serious it is and what you went through and why the people are so concerned about you after you have a seizure.
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