Loris Marazzi: Your mind is your force

The brain, the centre of reason, of the 'soul' and of all control mechanisms of the somatic and mental functions in the human organism, is the basis of human existence. A disease of the brain can have deep reaching effects on the personality of a person.

Up until the second half of the 19th century, doctors believed that epileptic seizures originated in different organisms in the human body, e.g. in the stomach, the heart, the liver, the womb, and in the extremities...

Today clinical observations, experiments in physiological laboratories, examinations made by instruments (e.g. electroencephalogram - EEG) have proved that every epileptic seizure originates in the brain. This also explains why epileptic seizures can have such different manifestations.There is almost no cerebral function which cannot be effected, changed or varied for a short time during epileptic activity, i.e. during a seizure - be it a motor, mental, sensory or vegetative function.

After a seizure the brain 'functions' again as normal. The epileptic seizure does not destroy brain cells, the brain has tremendous protective mechanisms. However, it is often a good idea to increase the brain's defences and to improve the protective mechanisms (e.g. by taking anti-epileptic drugs).

Where the brain is otherwise healthy, epilepsy does not inhibit the cerebral functions - the example of the 'genius with epilepsy' is proof of this. For people with epilepsy just as for others, 'Your mind is your strength.'

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