greenideas: Hypergraphia, or "Blogger's Disease"

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March 24, 2004

Hypergraphia, or "Blogger's Disease"

In her new book, Harvard neuroscientist, Alice Flaherty, chronicles her struggles with hypegraphia, a psychiatric condition which compels those who have it to write incessantly.

The condition is often associated with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) as well as with Bipolar disorder and other forms of depression. Dr. Flaherty's first encounter with the disease was while she suffered from postnatal depression after prematurely giving birth to twins who subsequently died. Sylvia Plath had it during severe PMS. No, really.

Interestingly, TLE also occasionaly produces intense spiritual or religious feelings. This aspect of the disease, coupled with the hypergraphia, raises some interesting questions about the inspiration for Dostoyevsky's ouvre. Van Gogh also had TLE, and hypergraphia could explain the way he compulsively planned each of his paintings.

Should Dr. Flaherty ever need research subjects, she would do well to pick at random from the blogging community. Personally, greenideas would be delighted to have a disease in common with Dostoyevsky... well, probably just this one.

"Telling a tale with too many words" (Guardian Unlimited)

Posted by matt at March 24, 2004 02:07 PM