Phil has found comfort in his strong religious faith, and family and group support. A few years ago, Phil Vaneria attended the annual meeting of a support group called Lighting Strike and Electric Shock Survivors International. We next talk with Dr. Mary Ann Cooper , one of the association's board members. Dr. Cooper is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a researcher on the effects of lightning and electrical injury. A massive electric shock to the brain can cause brain cells to develop pores and leakage, and then die.
Survivors often struggle with subsequent disorientation, disorganization, and, even isolation.
In fact, high speed electrical signals are central to the way the mind makes sense of the world. Dr. Charles Stevens is a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute, in La Jolla, California, and a leading researcher in neuroplasticity, often described as the brain's ability to adapt to injury and new demands, or to rewire itself. He joins us to discuss the brain's natural electrical activity. Nerves communicate through electric signaling. Brain cells signal electrically to release the chemical neurotransmitters like seratonin and dopamine that are associated with feelings.