Several studies have revealed that mystical experiences are sometimes linked to epilepsy. But now, a new study whose results have been published in the journal Neurocase, reveal the case of a woman to whom a brain tumor caused visions in which the Virgin Mary appeared to her.
The patient was a Spanish woman who had reached the age of sixty and who, although a believer, had never shown an exceptional religious fervor. But over a period of two months, the woman experienced a remarkable change in her personality. He began to be interested in the Bible and other sacred texts, and to affirm that he had visions in which the Virgin appeared to him and even spoke to him.
The medical tests carried out at the Morales Meseguer General University Hospital in Murcia served to discover that he had a glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most aggressive varieties of brain tumors. The woman received chemotherapy and other types of medications. And, although he eventually died of the disease, during the time that treatment lasted, the visions disappeared and his religious fervor gradually declined.
These results seem to show that their mystical experiences were a symptom caused by the disease. In fact, among the areas affected by the tumor was the temporal lobe, a region that has usually been linked to religiosity and spirituality.
