



For around a decade, RM has taken part in several studies designed by Sohee Park, a neuroscientist from Vanderbilt University who works on schizophrenia. "He's a very interesting guy," says Park. "He has very deep insight into his condition."






RM was worried that a psychotic episode was on the horizon, but Park's team had no idea about his history and he didn't mention it. "We were so excited when it happened the first time, and he's very helpful," says Park. When they asked him to come back and repeat the experiment, he agreed. He wanted to know more too.

When he returned, Thakkar duplicated the same experience and this time, RM actually found the experience to be quite pleasant and wanted the feeling to come back. That was when he told the scientists about his history. "We got really worried, because we'd just induced these twice!" recalls Park. But she didn't need to worry.

After the experiment, RM wanted to know more, so Thakkar plied him with information and journal articles about out-of-body experiences. He learned that the phenomenon had a name. He learned that scientists could willingly duplicate the effect in a lab. He learned that they had identified parts of the brain that are associated with the experiences. The information was revelatory. "He gained a psychological cause for this apparently supernatural phenomenon," says Park, "and he has used this knowledge to control his symptoms." Since then, RM hasn't had a psychotic episode.

This approach almost certainly won't work for everyone – bear in mind that RM is high-functioning and self-aware. He is very eloquent and has an IQ of 120. Park notes that similar explanations might also help other people with unusual experiences like out-of-body effects, since these could exacerbate the other symptoms of schizophrenia. "If it feels supernatural, that just feeds into the delusions," she says.


But for RM, it seems that learning more about his condition was enough. A year on, his diagnosis is unchanged, he still gets out-of-body experiences, and he still hears voices. But gone are the days when his experiences would require a stay in a hospital. He is now hoping to establish himself as a freelance writer, and he's even had a paper on religion accepted in a peer-reviewed academic journal. For him, knowledge has proven to be a potent treatment. "We check up with him regularly and he's been doing really well," says Park.


This post originally appeared on Not Exactly Rocket Science.