Are You Suffering from CBFS? Do you know Someone Afflicted?

CBFS often goes undiagnosed and can be fatal in rare cases. In any event, it’s a most serious and severely debilitating disorder. There is no cure to date, and they’re really not looking for one so if you are a victim, you’re likely to be one for the rest of your life.

CBFS is characterized by the brain’s lesser ability to identify similarity and connect information so that the brain puts all information into various separate compartments. For instance, a child with CBFS, first learning to identify an apple and a banana, will be able to relay many of the differences between them. The much more difficult concept for the CBFS child is to see that the apple and banana are both fruit. Because it’s a simple concept, the child will eventually be able to connect that similarity, but much later than peers not affected by the disorder.

For adults, Compartmental Brain Function Syndrome becomes more debilitating as more information is added to the compartments and as more complex information is absorbed. The few studies that have been conducted to date show that it is best for adults with CBFS to limit knowledge intake as much as possible to avoid brain overload. When the CBFS victim cannot definitively place a concept or idea in any one compartment, it simply does not know what to do with the information so it either creates a new compartment or the idea randomly floats around outside the already created compartments banging around with other homeless ideas and concepts. The brain is overloaded with separately contained and disconnected compartments as well as the random thoughts that have found no single compartment so that it becomes almost impossible for logical reasoning and any thoughts the brain is not able to compartmentalize only serve to exacerbate the dysfuntion.  

There are many symptoms of this chronic condition. In those rare cases when it is fatal, it’s very sad because if there were a cure, the fatality could have been avoided. Recently, a Cape Cod resident suffering from CBFS, knowing the dangers of sharks, was vacationing in an area where sharks were not problems; however, stingrays were prevalent in the area. Because he had not compartmentalized the sea creature, in his brain, stingrays are not associated with danger, not being sharks, so he thought he was safe swimming in these stingray infested waters until one pierced a vital organ. This is a very extreme example but it can be a problem, although misery is finally abated on the bright side.

If you know someone who is afflicted, be aware that any attempts to reason with them will be futile attempts. As long as you are aware of the disorder, you will be able to better understand and hopefully show compassion instead of allowing them to needlessly frustrate you.