Good afternoon, dear blog readers! Do you know what Savant Syndrome is? Or maybe you even know someone with similar features? Let’s figure out what this phenomenon is and why people with this syndrome are unique.
What it is?
Savantism (Savant’s syndrome) is a rather rare condition in which individuals with mental disabilities and autists have a so-called «island of genius». This means that such a person has phenomenal abilities in certain areas. And autism does not interfere with these abilities. Those. the limited possibilities of such a person are manifested in all spheres of life, except for the «brilliant».
Many famous people have been affected by this syndrome. Their narrow genius had a «downside». Savant syndrome is a secondary phenomenon that accompanies certain forms of mental development and mental retardation. In extremely rare cases, it can be a consequence of severe damage to certain parts of the brain.
Most often, the abilities of savants manifest themselves in such areas as:
- musical art;
- exact sciences and mathematical calculations;
- painting and drawing;
- cartography;
- performing calendar calculations;
- modeling (including complex three-dimensional).
A person with this syndrome can easily reproduce several pages of a barely read text, determine what day of the week some number of the distant year 2200 will fall on, for example. Also, as a manifestation of the Savant syndrome, there may be a heightened sense of smell, orientation in the area, and the compilation of geographical maps. A case was recorded when a savant, once flying over London, was able to draw a detailed map of this city.
It is worth noting that along with such brilliant abilities in some areas, a person demonstrates complete backwardness and underdevelopment in all others. In the specialized psychiatric literature, cases are mentioned when a patient who accurately indicates the day of the week of any past and future date is ill with oligophrenia at the stage of imbecility.
Causes of
This syndrome can be congenital or acquired during life after some critical situation. In the psychiatric literature, cases are described when this ailment developed after significant lesions in certain areas of the brain or degenerative diseases of the central nervous system.
Males are outnumbered among people with Savant syndrome. Scientists attribute this to testosterone, or rather its effect on the growth and development of the brain, especially in newly born children with this syndrome. In addition, this hormone also significantly reduces the production of oxytocin, which affects the social adaptation of the individual.
In science, from recent times, there is also a viral theory of this anomaly. It is believed that an infectious reagent that accidentally enters a healthy body stimulates the mutation of brain cells, which causes the development of the disease.
According to highly specialized brain studies, people with Savant syndrome have an increased activity of the right hemisphere, which noticeably replaces the function of the left, which in turn demonstrates a functional deficit.
Factors that can provoke the development of this syndrome may be:
- the symptoms of this disease existing in the family amnesis, special attention is paid to the autism of relatives;
- the weight of the newborn, significantly different from the norm (approximately 2-2,5 kg);
- prematurity of the baby;
- maturity of parents (mother — more than 40 years old, father — more than 49 years old);
- congenital malformations;
- resuscitation after childbirth;
- poor ecological atmosphere, leading to vitamin D deficiency and, as a result, mutations.
It is worth noting that due to constant research on this disease, the above list is periodically updated with new data. Scientists note that they were not able to learn everything about this syndrome.
Clinical manifestations
A good example of such a person is Stephen Wildshire. See how he paints London.
For people with this ailment, seemingly simple things like getting dressed and going to the store are quite difficult, and often even overwhelming. But in individual narrow areas, outstanding abilities are noted.
Areas where genius might be found:
- creativity — the ability to design and invent, reproduce various devices and mechanisms;
- mathematics — performing rather complex arithmetic calculations in the mind;
- memory — easy memorization and reproduction of significant amounts of new information, often highly specialized;
- spatial thinking is the reproduction in memory of a three-dimensional model of an object or object that was once accidentally seen.
It is worth noting that the field of knowledge in which amazing results have been shown is very limited. Those. they phenomenally memorize various kinds of information, completely unaware of its meaning and deep understanding. The brain of such people knows exactly how to receive and then reproduce information in detail, but cannot analyze it due to limited mental abilities.
Savant syndrome is characterized by such disorders and associated symptoms:
- epilepsy or epileptiform syndrome;
- physical and mental underdevelopment;
- the presence of areas of the brain with an abnormal structure;
- autistic disorders;
- hearing or speech disorders;
- low level of intelligence, which serves as a backdrop for the «islands of genius»;
- the presence of certain motor stereotypes.
Patients with this disease are usually uncommunicative, they try to constantly avoid communication with people, including tactile contacts. It is very difficult for them to express their thoughts and emotions. There is a significant deviation of their socialization in society.
Diagnostics
The syndrome, as such, is not considered a separate disease. Also, a sign of illness is not the presence of one or more talents in individual areas.
Since Savant’s syndrome is a rare form of autistic disorder, a prerequisite for the development of this disease may be a violation of the normal functioning of brain cells in its individual areas. In this case, there is a lag in mental development and other symptoms.
In the process of clinical diagnosis for the presence of Savant syndrome, the following indicators are taken into account:
- age and gender of the patient;
- results of magnetic resonance imaging;
- encephalogram results;
- family history (symptoms that were once seen in relatives);
- special laboratory studies.
Also, the patient’s coefficient of general intellectual development and the level of empathy are checked using special tests. Today’s technological progress and the availability of highly specialized computer programs allow for extremely accurate differential analysis.
Treatment and prevention
The treatment of this disease is psychiatry. The key vectors of action in this complex process are the development of independence in such people, their socialization. Improving the physiological and emotional state contributes to their disclosure in society, the development of communication skills. Pharmacotherapy also significantly accelerates the effect of therapy.
Brilliant abilities in narrow areas that take place in this disease also require a special approach. Indeed, against the background of such opportunities, there is a lag in the development of the physical sphere and intellect as a whole. Therefore, too energetic and active methods of education, which aim to quickly socialize the patient, can both be crowned with success and cause the loss of these abilities.
The training of such people in social communication should be moderate, not interfere with the development of their giftedness, since the latter gives them a sense of significance and self-confidence. This approach ensures successful treatment and socialization.
For example, if there is a genius in the field of art, you can resort to art therapy.
Conclusion
I hope this article was informative for you. Don’t miss my blog updates. A lot of interesting and useful information is waiting for you. All the best, dear readers!