From Wikipedia: “The prevalence of Charles Bonnet Syndrome has been reported to be between 10% and 40%; a recent Australian study has found the prevalence to be 17.5% [2]. Two Asian studies, however, report a much lower prevalence [5].[6]. The high incidence of non-reporting of this disorder is the greatest hindrance to determining the exact prevalence; non-reporting is thought to be as a result of sufferers being afraid to discuss the symptoms out of fear that they will be labelled insane[4].”
Yvain, your posts are an incredible wake-up call as to the astounding weirdness of the everyday world, to an extent that I ought to have expected but didn’t. Entire countries, scientists, governments and all, are irrationally frightened of “fan death”? I wouldn’t have believed it.
~10% of people see elves?! But don’t report it because they think they’ll get institutionalized? I would not have believed that.
I admit that I remembered hearing about Charles Bonnet syndrome before, and linked to the Wikipedia page without reading it. 10 to 40 PERCENT?!
Looking at the literature, I find some evidence that the real prevalence rate is closer to 1%, and that the higher numbers are only true of people with impaired vision. That’s still impressive, though.
If it is the case that incidence is notably higher in people with impaired vision, and it is the case that in pre-modern societies impaired vision was far more common, then that would seem to provide a plausible explanation for why so many more otherwise rational people saw supernatural events in pre-modern societies than societies with access to better medicine.
Contrast the alternative hypothesis: people in pre-modern societies were all gullible and stupid.
From Wikipedia: “The prevalence of Charles Bonnet Syndrome has been reported to be between 10% and 40%; a recent Australian study has found the prevalence to be 17.5% [2]. Two Asian studies, however, report a much lower prevalence [5].[6]. The high incidence of non-reporting of this disorder is the greatest hindrance to determining the exact prevalence; non-reporting is thought to be as a result of sufferers being afraid to discuss the symptoms out of fear that they will be labelled insane[4].”
Yvain, your posts are an incredible wake-up call as to the astounding weirdness of the everyday world, to an extent that I ought to have expected but didn’t. Entire countries, scientists, governments and all, are irrationally frightened of “fan death”? I wouldn’t have believed it.
~10% of people see elves?! But don’t report it because they think they’ll get institutionalized? I would not have believed that.
I admit that I remembered hearing about Charles Bonnet syndrome before, and linked to the Wikipedia page without reading it. 10 to 40 PERCENT?!
Looking at the literature, I find some evidence that the real prevalence rate is closer to 1%, and that the higher numbers are only true of people with impaired vision. That’s still impressive, though.
If it is the case that incidence is notably higher in people with impaired vision, and it is the case that in pre-modern societies impaired vision was far more common, then that would seem to provide a plausible explanation for why so many more otherwise rational people saw supernatural events in pre-modern societies than societies with access to better medicine.
Contrast the alternative hypothesis: people in pre-modern societies were all gullible and stupid.