"Divine voices" obeying which the legendary Joan of Arc defended French interests, resisting the English invaders, could be, as Italian researchers have established, a manifestation of an unusual form of epilepsy. The relevant material appeared the day before in the Epilepsy & Behavior edition.
“If we drop all religious aspects and concentrate on the real reasons why the famous 'Maid of Orleans' heard voices in her head telling her to fight the British invaders, then you will find that all this is very similar to the symptoms of idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features.” say Giuseppe d'Orsi of the University of Foggia and Paolo Tinuper of the University of Bologna.
This rare form of epilepsy, as noted by d'Orsy and Tynooper, is caused by a mutation in the LGI1 genetic sequence and is accompanied by complex disorders in the brain, which lead to the fact that the patient begins to hear voices as if from the other world.
“And if we take into account the fact that Joan of Arc saw little in life besides various manifestations of religiosity, then it is not surprising that in her case the voices took on a divine character,” the researchers note.
Kolesnikov Andrey
