JB: Another new book showcases your work on a more personal level. This one is by Prof. Clark Elliott, The Ghost in My Brain: How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back. What can you tell us about it?
DZ: Clark Elliott, Ph.D. is an incredible individual, who spent eight frustrating years trying to regain normal function following a car accident. He was told by doctors that concussions create residual symptoms and that he would just have to learn to live with them. Eventually, he was referred to the Mind-Eye Connection by Dr. Donalee Markus for collaboration and received a series of prescriptive lenses that helped rewire his brain. He is now symptom-free. Dr. Markus and I have successfully worked together with many patients for the past twenty years and are presenting a four-hour workshop together at a national rehabilitation convention this fall.
JB: Lovely. I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Clark Elliott at your seminar and interviewing him. His book, now out in paperback and audio) is an amazing chronicle of the aftermath of his accident and his journey, with the help of Dr. Markus and you, to put his life back together. I understand that his book is now out in paperback. That's good. I recently saw the film, Concussion, starring Will Smith. It tells the story of a doctor who discovers a link between football and brain injury. Did you see it? Your thoughts?
DZ: Yes, Dr. Elliott's book is out in both paperback and audio format now, in addition to hardcover and a Kindle version. The doctor featured in the movie, Concussion, is Bennet Omalu. He was magnificently portrayed by Will Smith's incomparable performance. I was fortunate enough to listen to Dr. Omalu speak at the World Brain Mapping Conference this year. His powerful presentation described how important it was to search for the root cause of a disorder and practice preventive care. He was 32 years old when he discovered the unnamed brain disease that he coined Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). He is very humble, saying that, if he had not done it, someone else would have discovered the similarities between brains of football players and boxers. At a social event for the brain mapping group, I gave him a copy of Dr. Elliott's book and told him about my discovery of the link between visual and auditory functions when I was also 32 years old. I feel the same way as he does. If not I, someone at some point would have discovered that eyeglasses affect auditory localization ability. For instance, when a cell phone rings, some people just turn and answer it, others have to hunt around visually for it, because they can't pinpoint its exact location by only the ringing.
JB: Anything that you'd like to add before we wrap this up?
DZ: While the potentially devastating effects of concussion have been very much in the news, the topic of recent editorials and books and the subject of public focus, dyslexia is also a major problem -- perhaps as important as concussion -- and one that the Mind-Eye Connection is passionate in trying to eradicate. Research shows that dyslexia is not necessarily an eye or ear problem, but rather a disorder that causes difficulties in the processing of language. Language processing relies on both auditory and visual signaling pathways in the brain. Now, in my free time, I'm researching biochemical changes that occur in the brain and body from the use of eyeglasses altering retinal (brain) processing. That should keep me busy for the next several decades. It is so gratifying to be able to help people function better. Whatever the case may be -- being involved in each person's healing process is a rewarding endeavor.
JB: It's been a pleasure talking with you, Deborah; I've learned so much along the way. You're doing fascinating and important work. Thank you.
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Dr. Zelinsky's website: Mind-Eye Connection
My 7.5.2015 OpEdNews interview with Clark Elliott, author of The Ghost in My Brain: How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back
Thank you, Margo Rush, for suggesting this story.
Thanks, MAB, OEN's managing editor extraordinaire, for your editorial and creative support and ingenuity!
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