La perdita dell'immagine mentale visiva tra neurologia e psichiatria: Una rivisitazione critica del caso di Charcot e Bernard del 1883

Objectives: The Charcot and Bernard case of visual imagery, Monsieur X, is a classic case in the history of neuropsychology. Published in 1883, it has been considered the first case of visual imagery loss due to brain injury. Also in recent times a neurological valence has been given to it. However, the presence of analogous cases of loss of visual imagery in the psychiatric field have led us to hypothesize psychogenic origins rather than organic. Methods: In order to assess the validity of such an inference, we have compared the symptomatology of Monsieur X with that found in cases of loss of visual mental images, both psychiatric and neurological, presented in literature. Results: The clinical findings show strong assonances of the Monsieur X case with the symptoms manifested over time by the patients with psychogenic loss of visual imagery. Conclusions: Although Monsieur X's damage was initially interpreted as neurological, reports of similar symptoms in the psychiatric field lead us to postulate a psychogenic cause for his impairment as well.