And example of how lying and believing lies damages the brain: Glenn Beck reveals mystery illness and says doctors had to 'reboot' his brain

The conservative commentator Glenn Beck has revealed that he has suffered from severe neurological problems for several years, and credits, in part, "medical cowboys" at a chiropractic brain rehabilitation center for helping "reboot" his brain.

Beck detailed his health problems during a filmed broadcast shown Monday night, saying that his troubles began while he worked for Fox News and they "quite honestly made me look crazy". He described the first symptom as a "time collapse", saying he lost the ability to connect memories and facts. "I then began to lose names and faces ... entire conversations would go away."

He teared up as he described almost two years of increasing uncertainty and fear in the face of a mysterious ailment, which doctors said could leave him unable to function "in five to 10 years". Beck said that "vocal paralysis" and seizures began to affect his work, and that he was told by doctors that his lifestyle could not continue "because it was literally killing me".

He said doctors were baffled by the range of symptoms, which included "strange eyesight problems" and sensations of limbs crushed or "set on fire or pushed broken glass into them".

Beck visited numerous doctors and attempted diets and drug treatments and moved to Texas for the warmer weather. But doctors, he said, remained stymied: "We even looked into somebody poisoning me."

Doctors at first told Beck that his lack of sleep and intense focus at work caused the sensations, and that these things "happened to presidents, even Winston Churchill wrote about it". One told him to go spend time with his family, and another, about 18 months ago, tested him for a traumatic brain injury.

"I did so poorly on this test the doctors shared the results with my wife and didn't focus on them with me ... I knew I was functioning at about the bottom 10%. I knew when I couldn't figure out simple math problems or remember a series of words I was in real trouble."

In his darkest moments he said he saw the image Muhammad Ali's life with Parkinson's disease.

After asking: "Am I done? Can I put my sword down now?", Beck reached a "pivot point" and found the Carrick Brain Centers, a rehabilitation center in Texas that deals largely with patients who have suffered brain trauma and degenerative conditions. Beck attributes the work of clinicians there, who employ electrical stimulation, mirrors and non-surgical, alternative therapies such as the "Off Vertical Axis Rotational Device", which is a patented chair that spins to "stimulate the brain".

The Carrick Brain Center, like Florida's Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies and Brain Balance Centers, are linked to Ted Carrick, a specialist in "chiropractic neurology" whose clinics have treated athletes such as NHL star Sidney Crosby and former football player Darren Woodson. The chiropractic branch of alternative medicine has a long and controversial history that goes back to self-proclaimed magnetic healer Daniel Palmer, and Carrick's center, which can charge as much as $5,000 for a week-long therapy course, has been criticized by some doctors as dealing in placebo treatments.

Beck calls the clinicians there "cowboys" because of their unorthodox methods, and also because the Texan co-founder actually wears cowboy boots. The center linked his inability to sleep with adrenal failure and "hyperextension of [his] adrenal glands", which triggered an immune system response: "My body was trying to kill its most basic functions." He says these clinicians, diet, sleep and hormone treatment aided his recovery.

"My brain is back online in a big way. I have a clean bill of health."

Comment: Andrew Lobaczewski in his seminal work, , talked about "the first criterion for ponerogenesis" being the atrophy of critical faculties.

One of the reasons this particular point is so interesting is because we at SOTT.net have observed this "turning into half-wits" over and over again. It's the damnedest thing! The instant an individual makes a decision to believe a lie, it's as though their ability to use accurate reasoning about anything else - not just a contentious item - grinds to a halt.

Which, of course, leads to the consideration of Faith itself. Soren Kierkegaard suggested that religion is, of its essence, not persuasion of the truth of a doctrine, but commitment to a position which is inherently absurd. Human beings attain their identity by believing something that deeply offends their minds (or others).To exist, he says, we must believe, and to really believe means to believe something that is dreadfully hard to believe.You can't just believe something plausible because that is easy...So, for some people, it may be that believing lies is some kind of proof that they are in control of their choices, they aren't being pushed around or dominated by irritating things like facts and evidence.

We wonder if lying, holding onto a lie, even if one is only lying to the self (and in case of Glenn Beck is being an intentionally lying presstitute of the PTB), causes some kind of damage to this area of the brain? Or, if not actual damage, just sets up a pattern of activity that affects other areas of the brain in a detrimental way? One suspects that even when people believe a lie that some part of their brain knows the truth and they know, at some level, that they are lying or believing lies (which amounts to lying to the self).

We also wonder what kinds of results would show up doing these kinds of scans on psychopaths? Do psychopaths know they are lying in all cases? And if that is the case, does it have the same physiological effect on them as it does on an individual with a conscience?

Just a whole lot of thoughts and questions...