🚨 A man was shot in the head and cured of mental illness:
A 19-year-old man who attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head inadvertently cured his own severe, debilitating obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In 1983, a teenager identified only as George was trapped in a relentless cycle of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), washing his hands hundreds of times a day and taking endless showers.
Unable to cope with the debilitating illness, which had forced him to drop out of school and quit his job, George attempted to end his life by shooting himself in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
Remarkably, he survived. The bullet lodged in his brain's left frontal lobe, and while surgeons managed to remove most of it, some bullet fragments remained permanently embedded.
What followed puzzled and amazed his medical team: within three weeks of the incident, George’s obsessive-compulsive behaviors had virtually disappeared. Over the next five years, he achieved an astonishing recovery, successfully reentering society, securing steady employment, and maintaining straight-A grades in college.
His treating psychiatrist, Dr. Laszlo Solyom, explained that the bullet had precisely destroyed the localized brain tissue responsible for his OCD while sparing his overall intelligence and cognitive abilities.
While doctors strongly warn that this was a highly dangerous, near-fatal fluke, the case remains a landmark in neuropsychiatry, demonstrating the profound and still-mysterious link between physical brain structures and mental health.
source: The New York Times. Brain Wound Eliminates Man's Mental Illness.
ALT 🚨 A man was shot in the head and cured of mental illness:
A 19-year-old man who attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head inadvertently cured his own severe, debilitating obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In 1983, a teenager identified only as George was trapped in a relentless cycle of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), washing his hands hundreds of times a day and taking endless showers.
Unable to cope with the debilitating illness, which had forced him to drop out of school and quit his job, George attempted to end his life by shooting himself in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
Remarkably, he survived. The bullet lodged in his brain's left frontal lobe, and while surgeons managed to remove most of it, some bullet fragments remained permanently embedded.
What followed puzzled and amazed his medical team: within three weeks of the incident, George’s obsessive-compulsive behaviors had virtually disappeared.