Hypergraphia

[1] Structures that may have an effect on hypergraphia when damaged due to temporal lobe epilepsy are the hippocampus and Wernicke's area.

The patients kept diaries, which some used to meticulously document minute details of their everyday activities, write poetry, or create lists.

[2] A patient from a separate study experienced continuous "rhyming in his head" for five years after a seizure and said that he "felt the need to write them down.

"[6] Patients hospitalized with temporal lobe epilepsy and other disorders causing hypergraphia have written memos and lists (like their favorite songs) and recorded their dreams in extreme length and detail.

[8] The composer Robert Schumann, during periods of high musical output, also wrote many long letters to his wife Clara; similarly, Vincent van Gogh had much more written correspondence during bouts of intense painting.

Therefore, it is difficult to say with absolute certainty that hypergraphia is a symptom of these psychiatric illnesses because creativity in patients with bipolar disorder, hypomania, or schizophrenia may manifest into something aside from writing.

[medical citation needed] Temporal lobe epilepsy patients may exhibit irritability, discomfort, or an increasing feeling of dread if their writing activity is disrupted.

[14] Drugs that boost mood and energy have been known to induce hypergraphia, possibly by increasing activity in brain networks utilizing one of the body's neurotransmitters, dopamine.

Low latent inhibition leads to an excessive level of stimulation and could contribute to the onset of hypergraphia and general creativity.

In one case study, a patient taking donepezil reported an elevation in mood and energy levels which led to hypergraphia and other excessive forms of speech (such as singing).

[18] Lesions to Wernicke's area (in the left temporal lobe) can increase speech output, which can sometimes manifest itself in writing.

[22] The mysterious woman, who had died in bed of apparent suffocation, had remained secluded in her home for 27 years in the small town of Ringgold, Georgia, United States.

Her 10,000-page journal, which provided abundant evidence that she suffered from epilepsy and had remained housebound of her own will, was instrumental in the acquittal of her husband.

[23] Other artistic figures reported to have been affected by hypergraphia include Vincent van Gogh,[citation needed] Fyodor Dostoevsky,[24] and Robert Burns.