Chapter Seventeen Summary and Analysis

The final chapter, "Migraine Aura and Hallucinatory Constants," is written with Ralph M. Siegel, Ph.D. The fact that visual hallucinations are so common makes their presence fascinating to researchers. Those who suffer migraines tend to try to describe the visualizations. In some cases, the patient has resorted to drawing the visions present at the time of the event. These range from random geometric shapes to "representations" of people or places. These visual phenomenons are divided into three categories. The first is, quite literally, "seeing stars." This is identified as the "crude" among the possible visualizations in that they are not nearly as sophisticated as some other types. The second is the "expanding spectrum" and the third is geometric patterns. In some cases, these three stages all occur in a single event, sometimes in that progressive order with the...