The study explored how our eyes can be the window to understand certain mental conditions and the struggles associated with them.
The sense of paranoia can creep into us at random times. The crippling thought of people trying to harm us or trying to read a situation as dangerous can make us feel unsafe. However, a recent study led by Philip Corlett, Yale School of Medicine states that paranoid thought may be related to the way we see the world. Also read | Billie Eilish ‘needs help’ as paranoia grows from past threats and harassment: Report
The study states that paranoia might be related to our eyes, and not just our mind. Published in the journal Communications Psychology, the study used a simple test of moving dots to understand how people with paranoid thoughts can figure out a pattern that is non-existent.
Study senior author Philip Corlett, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, in a university release, said, “We’re really interested in how the mind is organised. Chasing or other intentional behaviors are what you might think of as experiences perceived at a very high-level in the brain, that someone might have to reason through and deliberate. In this study, we can see them low down in the brain, in vision, which we think is exciting and interesting — and has implications for how those mechanisms might be relevant for schizophrenia.” Also read | Paranoia alert! Your stress can make you sense danger in harmless situations
Findings of the study:
The study involved a moving dot test, and the participants were asked which dot they felt was the chaser, and the dot that was being chased. It was observed that people with paranoid tendencies struggled to identify which dot was being chased, while people with teleological thinking was unable to understand which dot was doing the chasing. While both cases involved misreading tendencies, it helped the researchers understand how they operate through different mechanisms of the brain.
Vision and mental health:
Currently, diagnosing mental conditions like schizophrenia relies heavily on psychiatric evaluations and self-reported symptoms. It was also observed that people who are born blind have very rare tendencies of developing schizophrenia, further supporting the results of the study. Also read | Can virtual reality reduce anxiety and paranoia in psychotics?
Lead author Santiago Castiello added, “Finding these social hallucinations in vision makes me wonder if schizophrenia is something that develops through errors in how people sample the visual world.” The study further emphasised how mental conditions can be depicted by the way our eyes see things, including the struggles.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
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