Synesthesia Disease

What is Synethesia Disease?

Synesthesia is defined as "senses coming together". At its simplest level, synesthesia means that when a certain sense or part of a sense is activated, another unrelated sense or part of a sense is activated concurrently. For example, when someone hears a sound, he or she immediately sees a color or shape in his or her "mind's eye." People that have synesthesia are called synesthetes.

Causes

The cause of synesthesia is not clearly understood. It is believed to have a genetic component,  although the specific genes involved remain unclear. Nearly 40% of those who possess synesthesia have a relative with the condition as well.

However, specific forms of synesthesia vary amongst family members suggesting that genes predispose a person to synesthesia but don't regulate the expression of synesthesia.

It has been proposed that synesthesia results from an excess number of neural connections between associated senses, possibly because of decreased neural pruning between regions as a fetus. In basic terms, two senses are crossed in the brain allowing them both to fire at once.

Types of Synesthesia

• Projector synesthetes perceive colors for letters, or see color when letters or numbers are noted
• Association synesthetes see colors in the mind's eye, meaning they perceive it internally rather than seeing the physical object as color
• Perceptual synesthetes are triggered by sights and sounds
• Conceptual synesthetes perceive based on the abstract such as time, for example each month may be represented by a specific color

Symptoms

• Involuntary - the synesthete does not think about the perception, it just simply occurs to them
• Projected - the perception doesn’t only occur within the mind, instead it is also seen outside of one's body
• Durable - the perception is consistent every time the sense is used (i.e., the letter "q" is orange every time it is seen)
• Generic - one would see colors or lines, for example, in connection to a certain smell, word, sound, but would not see a room full of people and furniture
• Memorable - the secondary perception is often more memorable than the primary, for example if a person associates a specific color with a person's name they may recall the person's name as being that color easier than recalling the actual name
• Emotional - these perceptions may cause emotional reactions, most often pleasant ones, that arise each time the perception is felt

Several traits that synesthetes tend to share include:

• Confusing right and left, north and south, and similar
• A terrible sense of direction or navigation
• Possess an incredible memory
• Experience migraine
• Typically an introvert
• Creative mind, artistically talented
• Perfectionist
• Ticklish, more so than most

Treatments

Most patients with synesthesia would argue against treatment for their condition, as treatment would entail reducing or removing one of the senses. Having heightened senses is not typically debilitating, and therefore not something that needs to be corrected. If it begins to affect quality of life, a doctor may be able to assist in seeking treatment to reduce the stimulation of the sense causing the trouble.

For those seeking to know more about their condition, hypnosis has been shown to produce the best results in learning more about how an individual's senses are crossed. Some professionals do warn that synesthesia is similar to a hallucination, but one that persists through the conscious mind. Undergoing hypnosis can help to dig into the dream state where imagery may play into false memories or fabricated perceptions that the conscious mind has never challenged previously.

Sources:

http://www.bu.edu/synesthesia/faq/

http://bandbacktogether.com/synesthesia-resources/