Could a person be driven insane by an image?

Could a symbol, picture, or other type of image drive a person out of their mind merely by looking at it?

What say you?

Interesting.... Maybe if it's a picture of something that when though about cannot be fully comprehended. Like looking at a picture of the end of the universe and really considering what could possibly be beyond that, if anything.... Great now I'm not going to be able to sleep.

Yah, it is what this is about

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9d78829760ea.jpg[/atsimg]

en.wikipedia.org...

The Scream is a classic reminder that insanity is a thread-drop away.

And it is always said that this painting

www.stonehamstudios.com...

is haunted. So pick your poison.

[edit on 20-4-2009 by pluckynoonez]

Insanity is relevant to your perspective, but I would say that perhaps a symbol or image could drive someone into such a state of mind that they appear insane to someone who did not understand.

Depending on how you were raised, your religion, culture, your mind set and emotional stability as a whole?
Sure why not?
There are pictures out there that can and do cause people to commit murder - and isn’t that a bit of insanity right there?
Yeah, it can happen.

peace

reply to post by silent thunder


We live via our mind - the mind is all.

So it depends on your mind-set.

And I agree with other posters that this is to do with your upbringing, your life experiences, and I might add, your soul.

Pictures cause different responses in different people, so yes, I think that it would be possible.

you know there was a really cool episode of that Showtime horror series from about 2005 that dealt with that. the show is Masters Of Horro and the title of the ep. is Cigarette Burns. all about a movie from the 30's(?) that drove people insane by the images shown during it. that fascinated me

I'd say the lack of an image is more likely to drive someone 'insane' than a real, physical image.

When the ability to grasp a whole or overall picture of something eludes someone, I think then that drive when coupled with a subsequent failing to grasp that image can drive someone to a psychological breakdown.

[edit on 20-4-2009 by Merriman Weir]

My perspective...

Yes. Take a Holocaust survivor, or even an MIA POW, and show them a photograph or two, particularly of something that they refuse to remember... by making them acknowledge that event, their minds will snap.

But for something more fun, more... grand...

We all have a collective memory; helps explains the high numbers of people afraid of spiders and the dark (a memory of Cthulhu from the dawning of man). Anyway, ever get that feeling when you know you are close to the truth? Not the truth, but rather THE TRUTH? Your heart rate and breathing quicken, your spine tightens... and, at the moment of clarity...

Mental fog. The thought disappears, evaporates... and you are left there, confused, wondering what you were thinking about to begin with.

There is something there, in our past, that we do not want to remember. All it would take for people as a whole to lose all reasoning is for one individual to unlock that memory and expose it.

Almost like the movie In the Mouth of Madness. Everyone becomes insane, except for the person that realized and exposed the truth.

reply to post by spellbound


In addition to factors already mentioned, I would say gender may influence someone's susceptibility to image. Males respond far more directly to visual stimulus than do females.

Is that a proven fact? Or just your opinion?

I think that men on a stag night reacting to female strippers would NOT be different from women on a hen night reacting to male strippers.

reply to post by silent thunder

Could a symbol, picture, or other type of image drive a person out of their mind merely by looking at it?

Well, that may depend entirely on the person, or maybe upon the image, or maybe both.

Look at this one for a while and report back to us -

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/85a463492256.jpg[/atsimg]

Many people have horrific terror or some psychological "disorder" that makes them feel terrified just by seeing an image, although we don't usually think of that as insanity, I would say it is similar. Lots of people have fears of clowns for some reason, and just to see a picture of a clown terrifies them even without any bad experiences in their lifetime. I also think that maybe if you looked at a symbol for a long time (like years) and then it disappeared you might have some psychological trauma from the absence of the symbol.

Clowns are the bad guys. When I was little, they terrified me.

Then we got the Chucky thing and the killer clown (Steven King).

So why was I scared of clowns when I was little and knew nothing?

Because they are evil and little kids know a lot more than adults know.

I don't know about insane, but some things can make you dizzy and sick to your stomach.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/35af49a12f2e.jpg[/atsimg]



[edit on 4/20/2009 by FlyersFan]

Hehe good question, I have always asked myself if there was a word/symbol that had the power to make one crazy instantly, and I believe there is.

But of course in the end its all about perspective, and the individual experiencing the image/symbol/word.

visible_villain, who is the artist of this beautiful painting?

reply to post by silent thunder


I can think of a symbol that is common, that most people see every day.


$


People seem to go crazy because they either have too much of it, or not enough!





[edit on 20-4-2009 by Blanca Rose]

reply to post by Clairaudience

... beautiful painting?

Obviously you been driven insane !

Anyway, I think everything we percieve becomes an 'image' in our mind's eye.

And in that sense it is fear which makes us go crazy.

I think that's what Frank Herbert meant when he used that phrase again and again in his classic novel, "Dune" -

Fear is the mind killer.

Havs you seen those rooms at montauk base, that where painted different colours. I am sure they did that for some mind bending things.

Not sure if you could go insane with a pcture, but some images look very dark.