Case Study: Bill Fulford

The following is a summary of a case presented and extensively analysed by Bill Fulford in a number of books and papers (Dickenson and Fulford, 2000, p. 109-31). Simon is an American lawyer from a Baptist family, though not previously religious himself. Under threat of legal action, unusually for him he set up an altar and prayed with lit candles and the family Bible. Afterwards he found that candle wax had left marks on the Bible that he described as a ‘seal’ and a ‘sun’. He took this to be a message from God that he, Simon, had a mission. He later thought he had further such messages left in patterns of wax which he interpreted as symbols from the book of Revelations. He sometimes experienced his own thoughts as being short circuited like a television going ‘on the fritz’. He took these experiences to be entirely normal. Subsequently he interpreted the ups and downs of his life as satanic and divine interventions.  

Motivated by these thoughts, he decided to contest the legal action against him and won. He went on to become a highly successful lawyer and was able to set up a charitable foundation. 

The case highlights the issue of the distinction between illness and difference. On the one hand, Simon seems to have had delusional experiences including thought-withdrawal. His perception of the patterns in the wax were not shared by others. On the other, he took these experiences to be positive and they motivated him to lead a successful life. Philosophical investigation of the nature of disease or illness helps shed light on this. Accounts which focus on biological functions will investigate whether there is evidence of a failure of cognitive functions. Those that stress values will look to the value Simon himself places on his experiences. 

Reference

Dickenson, D. and Fulford, K.W.M. (2000) In Two Minds: A Casebook of Psychiatric Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press