Perseveration
Hodder and Couperus suggest that Ellen White had partial complex seizure disorder because she exhibited “perseveration” of speech while in vision as well as in her writings. These reviewers apparently do not understand the nature of speech perseveration.ViOSe 22.4
In his book The Neurological Examination, Russell N. De Jong, M.D., defines perseveration of speech as “the persistence of one reply or one idea in response to various, questions.” For example, an examining physician asks a patient a question such as, “What color is my shirt?” The patient may respond, “Blue.” Whether or not this answer is correct or incorrect is not the issue. But now notice, if the physician then asks other questions, such as, “What time is it?” or, “What is the name of the President of the United States?” and the patient continues to answer, “Blue,” this is perseveration. Thus Hodder and Couperus use the term incorrectly when they apply it to the repetitive, but appropriate, use of a word or phrase.ViOSe 23.1
Perseveration of speech is rare in partial complex seizure disorder, yet Hodder and Couperus allege that because Ellen White repeated certain words and phrases while going into vision, while in vision, or following a vision in her writings, she exhibited perseveration. For example, these critics quote Ellen White as saying, “Glory, glory, glory,” while going into vision. This is repetition, but these expressions were appropriate to the context in which they were spoken, and hence are not perseveration as the term is used in a neurological context. In another example of “perseveration,” Couperus refers to an article in which Ellen White repeated the words “I saw” thirty-five times. Even though her reiterated use of this expression is more repetitive than it might be for well-edited writing, there is nothing illogical or inappropriate in the way she used the phrase. This, therefore, is not perseveration of speech, nor is it evidence of seizure disorder.ViOSe 23.2