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    Ellen White and Hypergraphia

    Some persons with partial complex seizure disorder manifest “hypergraphia” (excessive writing) between their attacks. Both Hodder and Couperus suggest that Ellen White’s prolific writing is an example of “hypergraphia,” 15Hodder, pp. 35, 36; Couperus, p. 26. and therefore evidence of seizure disorder. Ellen White was indeed a prolific writer. It is estimated that she wrote some 100,000 pages of typewritten material during her lifetime, much of which continues to be published. But prolific writing that is publishable is not evidence of hypergraphia as the term is used in connection with seizure disorder.ViOSe 21.2

    Those few investigators who have studied hypergraphia in persons with partial complex seizure state that this is typical of some of these individuals. Stephen G. Waxman and Norman Geschwind, both neurologists, give examples of this phenomenon in an article published in Neurology. 16Stephen G. Waxman and Norman Geschwind, “Hypergraphia in temporal lobe epilepsy,” Neurology, vol. 24, no. 7 (July 1974), pp. 629-636. These examples included the case of a girl who wrote a song several hundred times. She also wrote such things as repetitive lists of the furniture in her apartment, copied printed labels, and listed her likes and dislikes. None of these writings had literary value.ViOSe 21.3

    Another patient, a man, kept detailed lists of his symptoms as well as repetitive notes concerning when his seizures occurred and when they did not occur. Here is a brief example: “I do thank dear God above, no seizures.” This individual also kept extensive notes about everyday happenings, such as, “I had a seizure while sitting on the toilet.”ViOSe 21.4

    Hypergraphia is so devoid of literary merit that no authority has ever thus characterized the published works of a recognized author, nor has any competent neurologist ever attempted to diagnose seizure disorder by an analysis of an author’s style of writing or the quantity of his writing. Indeed, the concept of hypergraphia being characteristic of patients with seizure disorder is not widely known, and some neurologists have never even heard of this association.ViOSe 22.1

    It takes considerable stretching of the imagination to consider Ellen White’s writings as an example of hypergraphia associated with seizure disorder. In the first place, it is not the quantity of a person’s writings that determines whether or not he or she has seizure disorder hypergraphia, but the quality and content of these writings. Agatha Christie, Zane Grey, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, for instance, were prolific writers, yet no one has ever attributed their writings to hypergraphia or associated seizure disorder with these individuals.ViOSe 22.2

    As for Ellen White’s writings, they bear no resemblance to hypergraphia associated with seizure disorder. Many who have read her writings, yet who did not necessarily believe she was inspired of God or who did not wish to follow her counsel, have concluded that her writings had literary merit and that they were spiritually uplifting.ViOSe 22.3

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