Imagine a man – refer to him as John* – who lost his left arm after a horrible tractor accident. Shortly after his amputation, John begins feeling strange sensations where his arm previously existed, namely excruciating pain, akin to something ripping his flesh apart. Despite the empty space, he feels his arm; the sensations seem so realistic that he almost believes his arm remains attached to his shoulder. Is John mad? Obviously his left arm no longer exists, so how could he feel pain in that empty space? To the outside world, John appears crazy - a man who cannot healthily cope with the loss of his arm. However, according to Phantom in the Brain by Dr. Ramachandran, John’s sensations stem not from madness, but from a phantom limb; he experiences the sensations of his arm as if it still belonged to his body. Society can better understand, and therefore accept, sufferers of phantom limbs, or similar phenomenon, due to neurological explanations for the conditions.
Ramachandran offers one explanation, which correlates phantom limbs to internal body image. He states, “…your body image, despite all its appearance of durability, is an entirely transitory internal construct that can be profoundly modified with just a few simple tricks. It is merely a shell that you’ve temporarily created for successfully passing on your genes to your offspring” (62). The body exists only as a shell, which can change over time. If the body changes, then the mind does not always adapt to that change, which leads to a phantom limb. John, and other sufferers, experience phantom limb due to internal body image; their mind views their body as it existed in its whole state, despite their missing limb(s). Likewise, Ramachandran treats phantom limb with a mi...
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...h the brain views the body, or the sensations, or lack thereof, in their phantom.
A man complaining about pain in an invisible arm, or a woman whose arm feels paralyzed despite its amputation, may appear crazy. If people do not understand their conditions, then it becomes easy to negatively judge them. However, Ramachandran sheds new light on these conditions, especially phantom limb, which occurs in amputees who still feel the presence of their missing limb. This phenomenon happens due to control the brain has over the body, both internally and externally. Neurological explanations include internal body image, brain mapping, and improper brain command feedback, all outlined by Ramachandran. Through these explanations, society can understand and accept those that struggle with phantom limb, or similar phenomenon, and let go of judgment towards these individuals.
Carr mentions the affect that technology has on the neurological processes of the brain. Plasticity is described as the brains response through neurological pathways through experiences. The brain regions “change with experience, circumstance, and need” (29). Brain plasticity also responds to experiences that cause damage to the nervous system. Carr explains that injuries in accidents “reveal how extensively the brain can reorganize itself” (29).I have heard stories in which amputees are said to have a reaction to their amputated limb; it is known as a phantom limb. These types of studies are instrumental in supporting the claim that the brain can be restructured. Carr asserts that the internet is restructuring our brains while citing the brain plasticity experiments and studies done by other scientists. I have experienced this because I feel like by brain has become accustomed to activities that I do on a regular basis. For example, I rarely realize that I am driving when coming to school because I am used to driving on a specific route.
Almost all patients who have lost a limb due to an organ amputation, paralysis, or were born with inherited birth deficiency would undergo a mysterious phenomenon called phantom limb. Within this syndrome, patients would have a perception of their missing limb and would receive sensations from it. Limb loss could be due to many factors, such as congenital deficiencies, spinal cord injuries, and amputation of a limb. Although phantom limb sensation and phantom limb pain are strongly correlated, they should be differentiated. Phantom limb sensation is experienced by almost all biological and accidental amputees. On the other side, phantom limb pain is almost exclusively experienced as a result of an amputation.
something else there, the mind, that interacts with our bodies and makes us feel, think,
...tween actual perception and the sensations produced within our minds. It is a fallacy of ignorance to assume that there is no existence outside of the mind because we have no way of perceiving it.
For example, phantom pain is a well-known phenomenon in medicine. When people lose a limb, they will often feel painful spasms in parts that no longer exist. Although neuroscience is still developing, scientists assume sensory conflict is responsible for this phenomenon (Blakeslee, 1995b). The brain remembers the nerves going to the missing limb and their previous function, so it can issue orders through those nerves. However, the nerves will not get feedback from the muscles in the non-existent limb, so the brain stops the movement forcibly (Blakeslee, 1995b). Over time, the brain makes new nervous pathways and adapts to the new geography of the body (Blakeslee, 1995b), so the person's perception changes and phantom pain no longer persists.
Phantom pain refers to the phenomenal experience of pain in a body part that has been amputated or deafferented (Flor, Nikolajsen & Jensen, 2006). The characteristics of phantom pain have been described to occur in quick and sudden attacks of pain shooting up and down the amputated limb as well as cases of constant, excruciating pain whilst intensely perceiving the amputated limb to be cramped or postured abnormally (Katz, 1992). Approximately eighty percent of amputees report suffering from or at least experiencing some level of phantom pain post amputation; therefore it is a prominent issue (Flor, Nikolajsen & Jensen, 2006). Phantom pain is neuropathic pain that has no individual trigger but instead a plethora of psychobiological aspects of neuroplasticity that contribute to the cause of phantom pain (Grusser, Diers & Flor, 2003). The following will: outline the role of the peripheral and central factors associated with phantom pain and discuss the cortical reorganisation of the somatosensory cortex in relation to phantom pain.
Renner, T., Feldman, R., Majors, M., Morrissey, J., & Mae, L. (2011). States of Consciousness. Psychsmart (pp. 99-107). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Phantom Limb Syndrome is when a patient has lost a limb, such as a body part (organs), an arm or leg, but can still feel the presents of the limb and is “able” to continue functions with the arm because of the presents of the phantom. This syndrome can be caused by losing a limb in a tragic accident or by being born without a limb or limbs. When people are born without the limb or limbs and have this syndrome it can be described as wishful thinking or by having a soul. Wishful thinking is where the person wishes that they have the syndrome but they actually do not even if they are showing the signs of having the syndrome. This sort of thinking can be shown in the case of John McGrath who was an arm amputee that had co...
An out of body experience (OBEs) is described as by someone either standing above or floating above their own body. Some also describe it as the soul leaving the body and viewing from...
On 11/17/2015, I wore an arm brace to replicate an amputee that had lost his/her right arm at the shoulder joint. This was to replicate a loss of a dominant arm – the right side. I spent 6 hours with this condition and will report my findings in this report. I lost my arm in a car crash after it was severed and crushed my right arm. Most of my arm was beyond repair and had to be amputated, and I had to learn how to live without 2 hands. There are many reasons why amputations are required.
The purpose of this prosthetic limb is to help people who have lost a hand or arm in any type of accident like Les Baugh. He one of the patients currently outgoing testing with the prosthetic limb. He lost both of his arms at a electrical accident a young age and the prosthetic he using are attached to the end of his shoulders, since the accident cut his arms right to that section. He underwent surgery in order to remap the nerves
Sensation, as we know it, is thought to be a result of direct contact between the body and an internal or external stimulus. However, in the case of phantom limb phenomenon, sensation is explained rather differently. The phantom limb phenomenon, in short, occurs when a person with a missing limb still has sensations of limb being there; it is having the perception of missing limbs and feeling sensations from i...
What causes someone to desire amputation of a healthy limb? This desire was first reported by French surgeon Jean-Joseph Sue in 1785 (Lawrence, 2006). However, this delusion only began to receive public attention in the early 2000s due to the increase in documented cases. Soon thereafter, a psychiatric condition titled Body Integrity Identity D...
...that one's entire perception of pain may be conscious in origin and simply correlate to the mechanisms of the brain, rather than stem from just the brain entirely.
Some creatures are only able to sense the world while others, humans, are able to process and manipulate the world with their minds and bodies. This is a great difference between humans and other life forms. The body takes action when the mind or consciousness tell it to act. David Edmunds and Nigel Warburton sat down with Tim Crane to discuss the relationship between the mind and body. Crane explains “think of the mind as being a thing, some sort of entity that may or may not be separate from the body but rather to think of human beings to have mental capacities so that people have the capacity to think, to act, to feel and to have emotions and to be conscious, all of these mental capacities I’d classify as the mind,” (Crane 1:17-1:41) here Crane begins to go into detail about how humans have the ability to be conscious within their bodies. The body is able to move or adjust things in the physical world but it is relying on our thoughts, emotions, actions, and our consciousness to tell the body how to act or what to do. This does go to show “that the mind has physical effects in the physical world” (Warburton 2:33-2:36).