Friday, March 21, 2008

The Phantom Hand.

Well, this is interesting.

2 comments:

Dr. Brainiac said...

Hmmm...just like Alien Hand Syndrome - but different...

I've had opportunities to do psych testing on both types of patients and learned a lot from both.

Romulus Crowe said...

Hi Dr B.

These cases, along with schizophrenia, Tourette's, autism and others would once have been 'demonic possession' and would have been treated by beating and drowning. Drastic, and probably ineffective. In the Middle Ages though it was an acceptable cure to kill the patient. Their soul was okay. Cold comfort, I think!

I'm interested in the 'phantom limb' because one day I hope to find someone who can pick something up with a missing hand. It's a long shot I know. There are no reported cases of it, nobody's walking around on invisible legs or goosing passers-by with a phantom hand.

If there's anything in telekinesis, then it's more likely to show up in these cases. It hasn't so far but it seems more likely that someone whose mind thinks there should be a hand there would produce an effect, whereas someone who has all their limbs would find it difficult to imagine a new one.

Telekinesis - sum of convincing evidence so far - zero. A sideline. But worth watching out for. As with all things paranormal, the first absolute proof will be really big news, and it would be a shame if someone else found it while I was looking the other way.

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