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When the mythical Greek male monarch Oedipus realized he ’d murdered his father and marry his mother , he gouged his own optic out . But in literal lifespan , ego - blinding is a rare yet devastating consequence of untreated psychosis .
" Self - enucleation , " or bump off one ’s own eyes , take place extremely seldom . When it does , it has often been explained in Christ Within of the Oedipus myth or the scriptural verse line Matthew 5:29 , which states , " And if thyright eyeoffend thee , tear it out , and swan it from thee . "
Along with self-castration and the removal of a limb, plucking out one’s own eye is a rare but serious form of self-mutilation.
In fact , new research finds that sexual or religious guilt are rarely behind self - enucleation . Reporting in the British Journal of Ophthalmology , Australian head-shrinker Olav Nielssen of the University of Sydney and Matthew Large of the University of New South Wales find that only a quarter of self - enucleation cases postulate guilt . Cases also occur in non - Christian and non - westerly cultures , where Matthew ’s creed and theOedipal mythplay little to no ethnic role .
Almost constantly , though , dupe of ego - enucleation report card hallucinations or delusions that their center are a danger to them or others . In many eccentric , patient haveuntreated schizophrenia .
" Each typesetter’s case is troubling and it is perhaps not surprising that physician have essay to explain the patient ' behaviour in the secure frameworks of theirreligious and ethnical feeling , " the researchers wrote . But in fact , they wrote , doctors should immediately dictate major tranquillizer to affected role who have attempted to gouge out their heart , even if genial illness has not yet been diagnosed .
Self - enucleation is uncommon , with only about 50 cases reported in aesculapian journals over the past 50 eld . Nielssen and Large put the charge per unit of self - blinding at about 1 in 30 million people globally . In some casing , they wrote , people who have been hospitalized for heart - mutilation effort succeed in pluck out their own eyes in the hospital , spotlight the need for constant supervision and even arm restraints until antipsychotics start to take essence .
Even the removal of one heart can have broad gist , including complete red ink of visual sense if optic nerve scathe is extensive enough . Other complications reported include brain hemorrhage , leakage of the fluid that buffer the brain , and damage to the nearby pituitary gland .
