There is a very scientific account behind one charwoman ’s history of intense spiritualty and religiousness . Yet , it was not until the 48 - class - old patient was admitted to the hospital with ego - visit stab wounds inspired by two " celestial voices " that doctors fall upon the slowly - turn brainiac tumour behind her extreme piety .
The patient arrived at the University Hospital of Psychology in Bern , Switzerland , with several self - visit knife thrust wounds up to 7 centimeter ( 2.7 inches ) deep . According to the case report , latterly write inFrontiers of Psychology , she told medics she had abbreviate herself in religious sacrifice and had been encouraged to do so by two spectral voices who spoke to her on a regular basis .
While the woman had always had an above middling kinship for spiritualism , she also experienced bouts of profound religious devotedness on a 9 to 10 yr cycle , suggest the progression of the tumor was actively affect the extent of her religiosity . During these episodes , she would join the Jehovah ’s viewer only to resign after a class or two , citing a significant decrease in devoutness .
As for the auditory hallucination , the patient say she did n’t begin hearing the inspired vocalisation until 2012 – three years before she was accommodate to the university infirmary . These hallucination occurred oftentimes ( sometimes more than once a minute ) and would take the class of a command or a dialogue between the cleaning woman and the two voices . The conversations and demands tend to be religious in nature but were also gratifying , said the patient . At times , they could go forward for hours .
Later , MRI scans revealed a nous neoplasm affecting area of the mental capacity associated with auditive processing , emotional regulation and , most tellingly , spiritual experiences : the posterior thalamus , the posterior putamen , the dorsal internal capsule , and the left external globus pallidus .
However , due to the current want of neoplasm growth , the team did not perform any surgical interventions . or else , doctors order antipsychotic meds , which seemed to reduce symptom . As shortly as her dosage was lowered , however , the symptoms retort and the patient spoke of a renewed closeness to God . She also expressed vexation about her changing mental attitude towards religion .
This is not the first meter a brain tumour has been link up to spiritual notion . Earlier this class , a 60 - yr - old woman from Spain was diagnosed with Crab after she started"speaking " to the Virgin Mary .