Morris Visual Stress Solutions

Another article. It’s interesting to see how different agencies pick apart, leave out an edit information.

This Extremely Rare Neurological Condition Makes Faces Appear Distorted or 'Like a Demon' For the first time, scientists have recreated what one patient suffering from prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO, sees when he looks at faces

Dartmouth released a study Thursday, discussing the findings of a study conducted with Victor as a subject. I’ve shared Victor’s story several times on this page. Today CNN released a story and the benefits of colored lenses are mentioned there.

Meet a man with a rare malady that distorts faces: ‘It’s like staring at demons’ | CNN A man with a rare condition called prosopometamorphopsia, or PMO, in which faces are distorted shares his vision of the “demons” he sees when he looks at people’s faces.

Su***de Prevention Month - Part Two Imagine a world where the faces of everyone around you are distorted, monstrous, appearing grotesque or evil. If one were to describe this experience to a parent, teacher, therapist or doctor an assumption would be made that this is a mental health issue. Often it is not. It is a result of the brain having difficulty processing specific wavelengths of light....

September Su***de Prevention Part 2 Su***de Prevention Month – Part Two Imagine a world where the faces of everyone around you are distorted, monstrous, appearing grotesque or evil. If one were to describe this experience to a …

September is “Su***de Prevention” month. The gravity of the topic alone bears a weight that can be felt by mere contemplation. I think of the words “Prevent Su***de” and I am drawn to the questions “What brings a person to this point? Can we stop what drives them there?” There are so many factors that influence thoughts and motivation for self harm. If I can play even the smallest part in making a difference and saving a life I gladly would.
I have shared in the past Victor’s remarkable story and the crossing of our two paths on Facebook. In honor of Su***de Prevention Month I am sharing it again. Before the end of September I will post an update of where he finds himself today. I hope you enjoy.
Life or Death?
Original Post February 2020
Part One:
Sometime ago I joined a social media group offering support and encouragement for people who have who are grieving, recently lost a loved one to su***de, or who are struggling with depression themselves. Since joining I have often been struck by the courage and strength of those who have faced hurdles and heartaches I feel blessed to not know. On occasion I will comment on a post offering support or encouragement, but frequently I remain silent because I don’t know what to say, or it has already been said by others.
A month a ago while scrolling through social media as I sat waiting for a meeting to begin, a post at the top of my feed caught and kept my attention. It read in part: “I feel like I am shutting down. Like I am dying inside. Everything that is good about me is disappearing…. Every face I see that is not on a screen looks evil, twisted and demented. I mean literally looks like something from a John Carpenter movie… I don’t know how to stop it. Maybe it is too late.”
A read and re-read this post several times focusing on the words “Every face I see that is not on a screen looks evil, twisted and demented… I don’t know how to stop it.”
My inner voice spoke clearly: “You don’t know how to stop it… but maybe I do. I should message him.” Then logical side of my brain whispered: “Just exactly how do you get a someone to listen to or trust a complete stranger? How do I pull this off without being seen as a salesman or con artist?” “How crazy, wacked and improbable will it sound?”
The conversation inside continued, batting back and forth the merits of speaking out, and the challenge of being heard and taken seriously. In the end both sides agreed: I have to say something. This man sounds desperate and he posted on a su***de prevention page. “Maybe it’s too late” echoed in my head. If there ever were a time to speak up it was now. And so I posted:
“I’ve read many of your posts. You have a caring heart. I am sorry you’re feeling this way. You said ”Every face I see that is not on the screen looks evil, twisted and demented.” If this is truly the case you very well may be experiencing visual distortions caused by a specific area of the brains (the fusiform gyrus) inability to process light. The experience could be very unsettling and upsetting. Distortions can usually be stopped by filtering out some of the areas of the visible spectrum. Backlit screens have a different quality of light, which is why faces on screens remain more typical. If you want more information PM me.”
As I clicked send I began to hold my breath and wait. If he responded I needed to be able to share enough to inform, and hold back enough to not overwhelm him or seem like a “salesman”. I wasn’t in this for a sale. What followed over the next three days were hundreds of text messages and a clear plea for help.
He told me how on Saturday, feeling depressed and beyond hopeful, he had gone into his garage, stuck a hose into the tail pipe of his vehicle, closed the other end in the window. Having secured everything with tape he sat down in the seat, started the engine and waited for sleep and for the pain of it all to end. Hours later he awoke, the tape had fallen to the ground, the hose laying limp beside it. He was alive.
Perhaps he was meant to live, but why? Confused and unsure he went inside. Morning came and it was then he discovered that every face appeared distorted, demented, and evil. The looping question “Am I alive or did I die and am stuck someplace in between?” played in his mind, an ever tightening circle of questions and self-doubt until the fear of it consumed him. “If I am not dead, are they here for me? Have I committed the ultimate sin and now they are waiting?”
He was terrified and desperate, but the demonic twisted faces did not go. They were everywhere, and nothing made sense. Unsure where to turn or what to do he posted to the group in a final plea for help.
More than 1,300 miles away, I sat waiting for a meeting to start, scrolling through posts and our paths crossed.
Hundreds of messages and texts would follow between the two of us. As we wrote back and forth the change from fear and desperation to wonder and hope were reflected in his words. My mind began to race with a sense of obligation and growing concern: What next? To some extent I felt I would be playing with fire. I truly thought I could help, but if I couldn’t there would be disappointment for us both with huge implications for him. This man had already tried to commit su***de. If I failed to help could he remain standing under the weight of such disappointment? One thing I was certain: I needed to move forward with a great deal of caution and so the preparations began.

Su***de Prevention Month - Part Two

Imagine a world where the faces of everyone around you are distorted, monstrous, appearing grotesque or evil. If one were to describe this experience to a parent, teacher, therapist or doctor an assumption would be made that this is a mental health issue. Often it is not. It is a result of the brain having difficulty processing specific wavelengths of light. Often, most often in my experience, these distortions can be stopped. It doesn't require medications, surgery, hospitalization or long term treatment but rather by filtering light. The following is part two of a post originally posted in 2020.

The face of Death
Part Two: Thinking outside the box.
What I was about to attempt was outside of my comfort zone and way outside the box with regards to evaluations I have done in the past. But as I continued to text and message back and forth with growing understanding I knew we had to try and so preparations were made.
Technology even with its most maddening moments is an amazing thing. When the time for the evaluation came he had a printed a set of images I had emailed to him for use during the test, he'd also purchased set-up and installed a special wifi enabled lamp (that I could control with my phone from my office over 1300 miles away). Thanks to video conferencing we could also talk and see each other during the evaluation.
During the first half of the evaluation we attempted to resolve some of the visual distortions he was also seeing when he looked at text. He was amazed when a certain color of light caused the text to stop spinning and come to rest on the page. He couldn’t believe that with a simple change of the light I could make text spin again raising up to form an undulating page of floating letters that appeared to be spiraling around a drain.
While he was fascinated, I was relieved. I knew that if the text distortions stopped with the correct light, faces would probably return to normal as well.
The time had come to see if I could make the facial distortions stop. Before we began we agreed: under no circumstances was he to stop our video conference. If we were disconnected and I thought that he was in any way upset with the results I would call authorities in his area and ask for a welfare check. He could however close his eyes if he didn’t like what he was seeing, and he could ask to stop or take a break. I had to know he was ok, or I couldn’t move forward.
The human eye has three types of cone receptors in the retina. Each type is sensitive to wavelengths of light from a specific area of what we know as the visible spectrum. Our brain interprets these wavelengths of light as reds, greens, or blues. While only these colors can be detected and transmitted, the brain combines the information and we perceive millions of other colors.
Knowing I would test red, green, and blue (RGB). I decided to start the next portion of the evaluation using red light, but I also suspected from the earlier testing that red was his culprit (no not everyone’s, but his).
As we began he sat forward in his chair looking into a mirror. Using the regular ceiling light in his home he described how his face looked.
His eyes were set back and blackened. They looked void and dead. The skin around them was dark, almost decayed looking. The shape of his face not quite right.
Faces in the magazine he held were similar but worse. Their eyes were drawn up and back into blinking slits. Their noses turned up, pushed back into pointed snouts. Their mouths were twisted into frowning smiles, with deep lines at the corners and sharp pointed teeth filling the gaps.
Ceiling light off and changing the color of the light from the lamp to red, I asked “what happens now?”
“That makes it WORSE.”
“And with green?” I asked.
“That’s almost normal!” he exclaimed.
Slowly the light was adjusted until he said “there… that’s it. Wow,”
“Time to do your face. Remember our promise?”
He assured that he did. He would not disconnect our call.
Once again he sat forward and looked into his mirror. As the light shifted from white to red he gasped and sat back. His breath inhaled sharply and he let out a panicked groan.
“Shut your eyes, remember this isn’t real. Your brain is confused.” I changed the light back to green, the color that had worked for him with text and the faces in the magazine.
“Open your eyes, tell me what you see now.”
Trusting he did. “Wow. Just like that it’s gone! It worked!” and he began to cry.
He wept. The stress and fear escaping through falling tears.
Breaths in… as he explained what a relief it was, how afraid he had been. As quickly as they had come the demonic faces were gone, they had not come for him and he felt as if he had been given “another chance at life.”

September is “Su***de Prevention” month. The gravity of the topic alone bears a weight that can be felt by mere contemplation. I think of the words “Prevent Su***de” and I am drawn to the questions “What brings a person to this point? Can we stop what drives them there?” There are so many factors that influence thoughts and motivation for self harm....

September Su***de Prevention September is “Su***de Prevention” month. The gravity of the topic alone bears a weight that can be felt by mere contemplation. I think of the words “Prevent Su***de” and I am drawn to the questions…