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The rare and incredibly horrific and disturbing self inflicted injury of removing ones own eyes is being linked to a psychotic illness in the person over the current attribution to the Oedipus complex. The process of self blinding by removal can involve losing either one or both eyes. A recent research project has looked to highlight relevant causes or theories regarding why a person may feel compelled to complete such an act.
The Oedipus complex refers to Greek mythology regarding Oedipus' decision to blind himself by stabbing both of his eyes following a prophesy that he will murder his father and in turn, commit incest with his mother. Unable to deal with these thoughts, Oedipus takes this horrific decision in an attempt to change the course of future events. It is along these same lines that many have believed and thus attributed this rare occurrence with the subject of incest or sexual desires, and in particular the attraction of it to the sufferer and their attempts to rid themselves of such carnal thoughts by removing the eyes so that they may no longer be swayed by images presented to the mind. It of course leads swiftly onto not only guilt of a sexual nature but also that of a religious state of mind, with history seeing numerous links to devotees of the Christian faith. One such reference to such an act is even present in the Bible where Matthew suggests to 'pluck (it) out' the offending eye so that the body may be righteous on the day of judgement, perhaps not to be taken literally, but suggesting that a persons soul may be free of guilt if they don't allow their mind to be corrupted by images.
However, even with these links to religion and guilt, studies may suggest that the link is much closer to that of mental illness and psychotic tendencies than previously thought. Following lengthy research it is clear that not all cases of self enucleation occur in predominantly Christian or European countries, with many cases from Asia and beyond, where these influences would not exist. What has been clear is that through pouring over case after case of these horrific self mutilation incidents, most sufferers give their eyes an almost other being status, that they are separate from their bodies and interact with them as opposed to in conjunction. Hallucinations are also common, again pointing to sufferers believing their eyes are showing them images they don't wish to see in order to lead them astray.