Post by harmony on Jan 29, 2011 14:45:17 GMT -6
THE STIGMATA MYSTERY
Medical and Scientific Studies
Medical and scientific researchers have offered less duplicitous explanations for stigmata. Some, for example, suspect that stigmata may be the result of some sort of psychosomatic process, triggered by a mental disorder or by the sheer intensity of religious fervor that some sufferers exhibit. In the late 1960s, Dr. Oscar Ratnoff, a Case Western Reserve University hematologist best known for isolating the blood proteins involved in coagulation, pointed out parallels between stigmata and autoerythrocyte sensitization, also known as Gardner-Diamond Syndrome, a condition in which patients bled at times of emotional stress, an effect that doctors have been able to induce through hypnosis. More recently, in a 2002 article in the journal Mind and Society, University of California-Los Angeles anthropology professor Daniel M.T. Fessler proposed yet another possibility; he theorized that extreme fasting by fervent believers decreases the level of serotonin in their bodies, which in turn causes an altered state of consciousness in which they mutilate themselves without being aware of their actions.
But as other researchers have discovered, stigmata cases have other characteristics that can’t be explained by fakery or self-inflicted injury, and don’t easily fit into a disease diagnosis. Unlike normal wounds, for example, stigmata almost never become infected, and they heal with mysterious speed, without leaving scars or inflammation. And stigmatics don’t necessarily show signs of mental instability, or even a desire for attention. Dr. Joseph Klauder, a physician who examined the famous Bavarian stigmatic Theresa Neumann in the 1938, found her to be “emotionally normal, plain and humble,” and noted that she showed her stigmata to him reluctantly.
Martinez once taught a Mexican stigmatic deep relaxation and visualization techniques, in which she imagined Christ ascending to heaven without his wounds, in an effort to control her excruciating bleeding. Sure enough, the stigmata eventually vanished---taking with them her apparent ability to heal the sick. “She gave up the techniques and allowed the wounds to return,” explains Martinez. “Now she’s having healings again all over Mexico City.”
The case of Anna Maria T. similarly defies a simple explanation. Neurophysiologist Margnelli, who subjected her to extensive medical and psychological testing in the mid-1990s, concluded that although her wounds conceivably could have been created by a hot object or chemicals, the quick healing of her wounds and the absence of permanent damage made that unlikely.
Margnelli found some curious physiological quirks — infrared photographs showed, for example, that Anna Maria’s stigmata were warmer than the surrounding skin, and her skin’s electrical activity was higher on the days that she had the wounds. But her hands didn’t sweat excessively, as would have been the case if her stigmata were caused by conscious or unconscious mental manipulation of her autonomic nervous system. She had no history of mental illness, and once her religious visions were factored out, her scores on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were in the normal range. She seemed happy and content.
In the end, the researcher was unable to reach a definitive conclusion about Anna Maria T.’s stigmata. “As far as the hypothesis of a miracle is concerned, it is not within my competence to make any judgment,” he wrote
Read more: channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/the-girl-who-cries-blood-4450/stigmata-phemomena-3#ixzz1CSVsRs00
The girl who cries blood,
...and the girl who cries crystals???
Medical and Scientific Studies
Medical and scientific researchers have offered less duplicitous explanations for stigmata. Some, for example, suspect that stigmata may be the result of some sort of psychosomatic process, triggered by a mental disorder or by the sheer intensity of religious fervor that some sufferers exhibit. In the late 1960s, Dr. Oscar Ratnoff, a Case Western Reserve University hematologist best known for isolating the blood proteins involved in coagulation, pointed out parallels between stigmata and autoerythrocyte sensitization, also known as Gardner-Diamond Syndrome, a condition in which patients bled at times of emotional stress, an effect that doctors have been able to induce through hypnosis. More recently, in a 2002 article in the journal Mind and Society, University of California-Los Angeles anthropology professor Daniel M.T. Fessler proposed yet another possibility; he theorized that extreme fasting by fervent believers decreases the level of serotonin in their bodies, which in turn causes an altered state of consciousness in which they mutilate themselves without being aware of their actions.
But as other researchers have discovered, stigmata cases have other characteristics that can’t be explained by fakery or self-inflicted injury, and don’t easily fit into a disease diagnosis. Unlike normal wounds, for example, stigmata almost never become infected, and they heal with mysterious speed, without leaving scars or inflammation. And stigmatics don’t necessarily show signs of mental instability, or even a desire for attention. Dr. Joseph Klauder, a physician who examined the famous Bavarian stigmatic Theresa Neumann in the 1938, found her to be “emotionally normal, plain and humble,” and noted that she showed her stigmata to him reluctantly.
Martinez once taught a Mexican stigmatic deep relaxation and visualization techniques, in which she imagined Christ ascending to heaven without his wounds, in an effort to control her excruciating bleeding. Sure enough, the stigmata eventually vanished---taking with them her apparent ability to heal the sick. “She gave up the techniques and allowed the wounds to return,” explains Martinez. “Now she’s having healings again all over Mexico City.”
The case of Anna Maria T. similarly defies a simple explanation. Neurophysiologist Margnelli, who subjected her to extensive medical and psychological testing in the mid-1990s, concluded that although her wounds conceivably could have been created by a hot object or chemicals, the quick healing of her wounds and the absence of permanent damage made that unlikely.
Margnelli found some curious physiological quirks — infrared photographs showed, for example, that Anna Maria’s stigmata were warmer than the surrounding skin, and her skin’s electrical activity was higher on the days that she had the wounds. But her hands didn’t sweat excessively, as would have been the case if her stigmata were caused by conscious or unconscious mental manipulation of her autonomic nervous system. She had no history of mental illness, and once her religious visions were factored out, her scores on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were in the normal range. She seemed happy and content.
In the end, the researcher was unable to reach a definitive conclusion about Anna Maria T.’s stigmata. “As far as the hypothesis of a miracle is concerned, it is not within my competence to make any judgment,” he wrote
Read more: channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/the-girl-who-cries-blood-4450/stigmata-phemomena-3#ixzz1CSVsRs00
The girl who cries blood,
...and the girl who cries crystals???