More than 300 portrayals originating in Germany and South Tyrol (figures, paintings, other depictions like votive, devotional and window pictures, banners, relic busts and more) were analyzed, and in more than 150 of them, invalids could be interpreted as suffering from seizures, and their specific types of seizures could be classified with the help of objective criteria.
This result is particularly remarkable since from today's perspective, the understanding of and the attitude towards epilepsy in the last 6 centuries were characterized by superstition, lack of knowledge and condescension.
The present research attests to surprisingly well-founded knowledge of the semiology and etiology as well as the epidemiology of epilepsy, although the deviation of the depictions from science-based medicine cannot be neglected, since it limits any diagnostic classification, especially from historical distance.
«More than 300 portrayals originating in Germany and South Tyrol (figures, paintings, other depictions like votive, devotional and window pictures, banners, relic busts and more) were analyzed, and in more than 150 of them, invalids could be interpreted as suffering from seizures, and their specific types of seizures could be classified with the help of objective criteria.
This result is particularly remarkable since from today's perspective, the understanding of and the attitude towards epilep...
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