Mountain-climbs may be risky
Climbing highest mountains in the world such as Mount Everest can actually cause psychosis, according to a study. A team from Eurac Research in Italy and the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria carried out an investigation into psychotic episodes at extreme altitudes and subjected these to systematic scientific analysis.
They discovered a new medical entity which they named the isolated high-altitude psychosis. In the study published in the journal Psychological Medicine, researchers collected around 80 psychotic episodes taken from German mountain literature. Up to now, doctors had attributed such syndromes, along with other acoustic, optical and olfactory hallucinations, to organic causes. They frequently occur, along with symptoms such as severe headaches, dizziness and impaired balance, as side effects of a high-altitude cerebral oedema.
“The highest mountains in the world are maddeningly beautiful. It is just that we had no idea that they could actually drive us to madness as well,” said Hermann Brugger, Head of the Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine at Eurac Research.
Researchers cited the example of mountaineer Jeremy Windsor who experienced something very strange while climbing Mount Everest in 2008. “
Alone at an altitude of 27,000 feet, he encountered another man, named Jimmy, who offered words of encouragement and trekked alongside him before disappearing without a trace into the snow and ice,” researchers said.