Exaltation in temporal lobe epilepsy: neuropsychiatric symptom or portal to the divine?
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Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Network Analysis of Foramen Ovale Electrode Recordings in Drug-resistant Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients
Published on: December 18, 2016
1Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery, James Clerk Maxwell Building, King's College London, 57 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8WA, UK, n.mccrae@kcl.ac.uk.
Abstract:
Religiosity is a prominent feature of the Geschwind syndrome, a behavioural pattern found in some cases of temporal lobe epilepsy. Since the 1950s, when Wilder Penfield induced spiritual feelings by experimental manipulation of the temporal lobes, development of brain imaging technology has revealed neural correlates of intense emotional states, spurring the growth of neurotheology. In their secular empiricism, psychiatry, neurology and psychology are inclined to pathologise deviant religious expression, thereby reinforcing the dualism of objective and phenomenal worlds. Considering theological perspectives and the idea of cosmic consciousness, the authors urge a holistic approach to the spiritual events of epileptic aura, potentially leading to a deeper understanding of the mind and its transcendent potential.
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