The number of people who suffer from Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) is not known. To a great extent this is because people who are “seeing things” worry that other people will think they’re crazy. They just don’t want to talk about it.

 CBS usually comes upon people who have suffered vision loss later in life. They literally see things that are not there, but the hallucinations are not attributable to mental deterioration or imbalance, and the phantom scenes often stop within a year to 18 months.  

 Swiss philosopher Charles Bonnet first observed the condition in his grandfather in 1760. The condition is not well understood, but the experience usually seems to happen when a visually impaired person is alone in a quiet place with not much going on. Apparently the brain, which is no longer receiving visual stimuli from properly functioning eyes, creates fantasy pictures from previously stored images. 

 According to a British report from the Royal National Institute for the Blind, “It is important to realize that failing eyesight and not any other mental difficulties normally causes CBS.”

 For more information, visit:
http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/PublicWebsite/public_rnib003641.hcsp