Musical and poetic creativity and epilepsy

Epilepsy & Behavior : E&B
Dale C Hesdorffer, Michael R Trimble

Abstract

Associations between epilepsy and musical or poetic composition have received little attention. We reviewed the literature on links between poetic and musical skills and epilepsy, limiting this to the Western canon. While several composers were said to have had epilepsy, John Hughes concluded that none of the major classical composers thought to have had epilepsy actually had it. The only composer with epilepsy that we could find was the contemporary composer, Hikari Oe, who has autism and developed epilepsy at age 15years. In his childhood years, his mother found that he had an ability to identify bird sound and keys of songs and began teaching him piano. Hikari is able to compose in his head when his seizures are not severe, but when his seizures worsen, his creativity is lost. Music critics have commented on the simplicity of his musical composition and its monotonous sound. Our failure to find evidence of musical composers with epilepsy finds parallels with poetry where there are virtually no established poets with epilepsy. Those with seizures include Lord George Byron in the setting of terminal illness, Algernon Swinburne who had alcohol-related seizures, Charles Lloyd who had seizures and psychosis, Edward Lear who had c...Continue Reading

References

Jul 1, 1994·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·F Post
Oct 20, 2001·History of Psychiatry·M R Trimble
Feb 16, 2005·Epilepsy & Behavior : E&B·John R Hughes
Oct 1, 1949·The American Journal of Psychiatry·A JUDA
Mar 11, 2009·Clinical Medicine : Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London·Marco Mula, Michael R Trimble
Jun 17, 2009·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Darold A Treffert
Jun 17, 2009·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Pamela Heaton
Aug 14, 2012·Annals of Neurology·Dale C HesdorfferW Allen Hauser

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Citations

Mar 16, 2019·The Neuroscientist : a Review Journal Bringing Neurobiology, Neurology and Psychiatry·Domenico ChirchigliaRosa Marotta
Oct 16, 2020·Cognitive Processing·Paola PennisiMichela Cannarozzo

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