Research Reveals Congenital Blindness May Prevent Schizophrenia, Offering New Insights
A longstanding observation that individuals who are blind from birth do not develop schizophrenia has been substantiated by recent research. This phenomenon was first noted in 1950 by Hector Chevigny and Sydell Braverman, who observed that schizophrenia, a severe mental illness, was absent in people with congenital blindness. This observation was largely ignored until the early 2000s when large-scale health databases allowed for comprehensive studies. A significant study conducted in 2018 tracked nearly half a million children born in Western Australia, confirming that none of the children with cortical blindness developed schizophrenia. The protection appears specific to cortical blindness, which involves damage to the brain's visual cortex, rather than blindness caused by eye damage. This suggests that the absence of visual input from birth may lead to a different brain development, potentially offering protection against the disorder. 
