Psychological disorders have and always will be fascinating. They can have a horrible impact on the patient’s life and the lives of their loved ones and those who care for them. There is so much about the human brain that we do not yet understand and that we still need to explore. What fascinates me most is that I walk around with one of these brains in my head all day wherever I go and yet I have no idea what it is capable of.
There are a few psychological disorders that are fairly unheard of but do occur. These are so strange and unusual that I struggle to wrap my brain around it sometimes, but they are out there, and they are worth learning about.
Alien Hand Syndrome
This is also often referred to as "Dr. Strangelove Syndrome." Patients with this syndrome experience their limbs (particularly hands and most often the left hand) acting on their own without control. These patients believe that they are not in control of the actions of these limbs and often resort to controllable restraints to keep the limb under control. Patients with Alien Hand Syndrome will often reach out and grab or touch something that they had absolutely no intention of grabbing or touching. As I am sure you can imagine, this has the ability to get them into some seriously uncomfortable situations.
Alien Hand Syndrome often occurs after brain surgery, most commonly after patients have had their two hemispheres of the brain separated. This is often done in patients with severe epilepsy. It can however rarely occur after a stroke or due to a tumor on the brain.
Boanthropy
With this particular disorder the patient believes that they are a bovine and so they will often go out into the fields and eat and behave like ox or cows. It is suggested that this is caused by a form of hypnotism or auto-suggestion. In one documented case a woman described a dream she had where she was invited for dinner and when she was led through the door to where she would be eating, she was in a pasture with a bunch of cows.
The earliest documented case of Boanthropy is possibly in The Bible. You will find it in The Book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar II who was “driven from men and did eat grass as oxen.”
Kluver Bucy Syndrome
Kluver Bucy Sydrome is believed to be caused by bilateral lesions of the medial temporal lobe. A few of the symptoms of Kluver Bucy Syndrome include compulsive eating, hypersexuality, desire to put inappropriate objects in mouth and a sexual attraction to inanimate objects. Patients with Kluver Bucy Syndrome might also show signs of Visual Agnosia which means that they will no longer recognize familiar objects or familiar people in their lives.
Some of the rarer symptoms of Kluver Bucy Syndrome is a diminished emotional reaction and patients will often feel very little emotion towards anything. Some patients also experience an irresistible urge to react to absolutely everything around them.
Erotomania
This is a delusion in which a person believes that another person, typically of higher status (like a celebrity) is in love with them. They will strongly believe this despite clear evidence suggesting otherwise. This delusional disorder affects women more often than it affects men and is believed to be an effect of schizophrenia, major depressive disorder or even bipolar disorder.
Cases of Erotomania are on the rise as social media makes it easier to observe, stalk and contact unacquainted people. More often than not a delusional disorder such as Erotomania is formed as a way to manage stress but there is evidence that genetics also plays a large role in this.
Autophagia
Autophagia is classified as an Impulse-Control Disorder. Patients with Autophagia are compelled to inflict pain upon themselves by biting and/or eating parts of their own body. This disorder is heavily linked to schizophrenia and psychosis.
Often patients with Autophagia will describe a feeling of tension and arousal before committing the act and afterwards feelings of pleasure, gratification and relief. It is not difficult imagining how negatively this can impact the lives of those experiencing it and those around them.
Cotard Delusion
This is an extremely rare delusion in which the patient believes that they are already dead, do not exist, are decomposing or are missing limbs, the blood in their body or all of their internal organs. Patients will deny their own existence or the existence of parts of their bodies. The effects of this are terrible, they pay no attention to personal hygiene or physical health and some patients have often died of starvation. Patients with Cotard Delusion have a remarkably distorted view of the world around them. Cotard Delusion occurs with severe depression and some psychotic disorders. Sometimes it accompanies mental illness and neurological conditions.
Stendhal Syndrome
This is not so much a persisting syndrome in patients but rather something that is likely to happen once, although there is no reason for it not to be recurring. Stendhal Syndrome is when someone experiences rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when exposed to art or objects of great beauty.
Although there exists no scientific evidence to support the existence of Stendhal Syndrome those who have studied it have seen in occur in hundreds of people. People affected by it will become totally overwhelmed by emotion and often faint or have severe panic attacks.
Capgras Syndrome
This is also known as “Imposter Syndrome”. Capgras Syndrome is the irrational belief that someone in your life has been replaced by an imposter in disguise. It is strongly associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. Episodes of Capgras Syndrome can be caused by paranoid schizophrenia or in rare cases, cerebral lesions. There are, however, long lists of possible causes for this syndrome which has the ability to cause severe tension in relationships. It is the ultimate form of distrust.
It is similar to Reduplicative Paramnesia, where patients will believe that entire places, locations, rooms and buildings have been replicated, appearing in two separate places at once. Reduplicative Paramnesia is most likely caused by brain injury.
This list makes me so grateful for the mind that I have, and ever more intrigued by the minds of others. Dealing with any kind of mental illness, disorder, or disability can be completely crippling in your day to day life. I firmly believe that if we can understand the way our minds work and the reasons that they react the way that they do it would be easier to be more comfortable with what separates your mind from the mind of your neighbor.
To expect everyone to have a uniformed mind and an identical way of thinking is the fastest way to stunt a population. It is the difference between your mind and my mind that creates a reason to continue on and grow together, without those differences what would be the point?
