Writers’ Blog, Or: Bloggers May Be Crazy

Alice Weaver Flaherty, a neurologist at Mass General Hospital and a neurology instructor at Harvard Medical School, has an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that may suggest many bloggers are crazy.

Neurologists have found that changes in a specific area of the brain can produce hypergraphia, the medical term for an overpowering desire to write….

….

… One example of these changes is temporal-lobe epilepsy. Some people with epilepsy stemming from temporal-lobe damage have hypergraphia so strong that they will write on toilet paper or use their own blood for ink if nothing else is at hand. Their hypergraphia is usually linked to other personality traits, including unstable mood and motivation, and a tendency to ruminate on the philosophical or religious Big Questions. Similar traits are often seen in people with manic-depression during their manic periods. And there is evidence for selective changes in the temporal lobes of people with mania.

Or people addicted to blogging. Any of you had your temporal lobes checked lately?

Say What? (5)

  1. The Bitch Girls November 22, 2003 at 9:47 pm | | Reply

    Crazy?!?

    I was crazy once. They locked me in a rubber room with rats. Rats?!? I hate rats, they drive me crazy. Crazy?!? I was crazy once. They locked me in a rubber room with rats. Rats?!? I hate rats, they

  2. Sandy P. November 22, 2003 at 11:01 pm | | Reply

    Ummm, how much writing has Flaherty done?

    Of course, hers is for valid (to her) reasons.

  3. Just John November 23, 2003 at 8:25 pm | | Reply

    Hot dog, this is great news! Someone tell me where to stick the electrode in my brain; I’ll never have writer’s block again!

  4. Anonymous August 1, 2004 at 10:06 pm | | Reply

    We have been trying to determine what issue my son has for the last 6 years. his most recent diagnosis is Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. He has sometimes severe hypergraphia and strong ruminate on philosphical and religious big questions. He refuses to see a dr or take medication. How does one determine if this is TLE or manic depression. can the symptoms of manic depression also be a result of temporal lobe epilepsy? Thanks for any assistance.

  5. Billy September 8, 2005 at 8:55 am | | Reply

    yeah!! That’s kind of a discrimination.

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