English expat ‘rips his own eyes out’ during church service in Italy
Yeah, that’s not normal… but on religion, it is.
English expat ‘rips his own eyes out’ during church service in Italy
AN English expatriate in Viareggio (northern Italy) has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital after ripping out his own eyes with his naked hands during a church service.
The 46-year-old, a long-term resident in the Tuscan municipality, began screaming and banging his head against the floor during mass, explains his elderly mother, who was with him at the time.
He claimed he heard voices telling him to tear his eyes out.
The man was rushed to nearby Versilia hospital for an emergency operation, but surgeons were unable to save his sight, meaning he will now be blind for life.
Doctor Gino Barbacci, who treated him, said the man did not complain or show any signal of physical pain, and answered correctly when asked his name.
In the 26 years I have been practising, I have never seen anything like it, confessed Dr Barbacci.
Yet he appeared to be a completely normal person.
He would have needed absolutely super-human strength to pull his own eyes out with his hands.
He got up and started banging his head against the floor, he was covered in blood. I did not know what was happening, he didn’t say anything, explained the man’s mother when interviewed.
Medics say he had been in treatment for a psychiatric illness, but had not wanted to take the pills prescribed to him.
Last time I heard a story like that is when God told Pat Robertson to run for president.
Reminded me of _X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes_, starring Ray Milland (ending scene).
Tearing your own eyes out isn’t normal, but on religion it is.
How in the world is this related to religion? He happened to be at church while he was off of his anti-psychosis medicines. This appears to be schizophrenia, a disease that causes some sufferers to hear voices that tell them to do irrational or even harmful things.
Schizophrenia affects people across a spectrum, and most people who have it manage well on medications. Even if they have a schizoaffective episode, like this man had, they can “appear normal” quite soon afterwards, or even during the attack.
Using this very real psychiatric disorder to prove how religion is crazy is a weak connection. Try harder.
He was in a building that preaches non-sense when it happened? I’m not saying he ripped out his eyes because of religion, but there is the possibility it was one of the factors involved…
In any case, feel free to read the hundreds of other posts about religious crazies doing insane things due to their ‘faith’…
What about the “psychiatric condition?” part? If he had been in a grocery store when the voices told him to rip his eyes out, would we now be saying the tomatoes made him do it?
What about the woman trying to curse Satan out at the CVS? The shampoo told her to?
I’ve yet to hear about any group teaching that tomatoes can speak to you if you kneel in front of them and talk to them. The same goes to shampoo.
When sane people teach crazy people to do crazy things, all they’re doing is encouraging madness.
Tomatoes never speak to me. I carry a copy of “Puberty Love” on my boom-box.
(Okay, how many of you will recognize this reference? NO googling!)
BTW, the ending scene of the Ray Milland movie I ref’d earlier also takes
place in a church.