Alien Hand Syndrome

    Also known as Dr. Strangelove Syndrome, Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS) is a mental disorder in which a person loses control of his or her hand. A person with this condition can feel sensation normally, but has no control of it or knowledge of its actions; it is like the hand is possessed by an alien.

    Actions of the hand can range anywhere from touching one’s face, to punching or choking the sufferer. The results of these actions are viewed less of a medical threat and more of a nuisance/embarrassment for the sufferer.

    Alien Hand Syndrome has come up only after a stroke or infection of the brain. That being said, different brain injuries cause different types of this disorder. For example, a brain injury to the left side of the brain might result in questionable circumstances in the right hand. An injury to the frontal lobe might trigger grasping and similar movements in the dominant hand. Like all things involving the human body, it varies from person to person.

    As of late, there is no known treatment for Alien Hand. The best way to control the problem is to keep said hand busy doing other tasks. Because of the extreme rarity of this disorder (40 to 50 recorded cases since 1909), research has not been exactly abundant. That is why there is such a lack of information and treatment.

Genital Retraction Syndrome

    Genital Retraction Syndrome describes a person that is overcome the fear that his or her external sexual organs are shrinking, retracting into the body to the point of complete disappearance, and/or removed. This includes men feeling that his penis is retracting/disappearing, and women feeling like her breasts are getting retracting/disappearing. Although it has been seen in females, it is far more typically found in males.


    Another peculiar thing about this condition is its ability to spread within a population. For this to happen, groups of men/women will begin to believe that his or her genitals are shrinking or completely gone. The members of the group will inevitably start to talk with each other about it and, before you know it, everyone thinks they have Genital Retraction Syndrome.



   
 The causes of this syndrome are believed to be food poisoning, excessive masturbation, sexual intercourse with a prostitute, and witchcraft. It is appropriate now to state that the disorder is most common in places like China and Asia, where there is a lack of medical information.


    Western psychologists claim that Genital Retraction Syndrome is related to the stress that comes with sexual anxiety. As most of us already know, [cold weather and] emotional anxiety may cause the genitals to shrink, thereby “confirming” the presence of this disorder.


    That being said, there has been no scientific evidence to support the existence of this syndrome. While many victims have brought harm to themselves in an attempt to reverse the syndrome’s effects (i.e. elongating his or her genitals with the use of a clamp, weight, or something similar), the syndrome is considered to scientists to be fabricated.

Synesthesia

    Synethesia, meaning “joined perception,” is a neurologically-based phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sense (e.g. taste, sight, sound, touch, smell) causes the automatic and involuntary stimulation of another. The result of this is the vivid ability to taste shapes, see music, etc. People with this condition are referred to as synethetes.

    The most common form of synesthesia is the combination of color perception and letter/numbers. For example, a synethete might see the word “fun” as light blue or the number 7 as dark red. Other synesthetes hear sounds in response to smell, smells in response to touch, or sensation in response to sight. All combinations of the senses are possible.

    Like anything else, synesthetic perceptions differ from person to person. In other words, one synesthete may smell flowers when he or she sees a dog, while another may smell vomit at the sight of a dog.

    Estimates on the number of people that have this condition varies significantly; while one study found that 1 in 200 people have it, another found that 1 in 100,000 have this disorder. However, some general characteristics of synesthetes have been agreed upon: Women in the U.S. are three times more likely than men to get this disorder; synesthetes are of normal intelligence level; they are more likely to be left-handed; and the trait of synesthesia is thought to be on the X-chromosome and runs in families.

    Some scientists and research reveals that synesthesia is the result of a cross-wiring in the brain. Their hypothesis is that, in the brains of synesthetes, neurons and synapses that are supposed to be connected to one sensory system are actually connected to another sensory system. It is unclear the exact meaning for this, but some researchers believe that, at birth, everyone has this cross-connection. In a normal circumstance, the connections would work themselves out as a person ages; with a synesthete, these crossed connections are retained. 

Windigo Psychosis

    Windigo Psychosis is a culture-specific disorder of Canada, defined by delusions that one is being transformed into a monster called a windigo, or wittigo. The windigo is a cannibalistic spirit from Algonquin mythology that has the ability to possess the bodies of humans.

    A sufferer of Windigo Psychosis has an insatiable craving for human flesh. The urge is so strong that the sufferer will crave human flesh, even when other foods are available for consumption. They start to see the people around them as being edible.

    This craving for flesh, however, is accompanied by the exaggerated fear of becoming a cannibal. So, as can be assumed, sufferers experience agitation, depression, and fears about the loss of control over these sadistic impulses. To be more specific, sufferers have a fear of becoming Windigo monsters. Windigo monsters are supernatural beings that eat human flesh.

   
    The disorder was first identified by the Northern Algonkian Aboriginals. It was first identified in the winter because families were isolated by snow for months at a time, and resulting in inadequate food supply. The symptoms of this disorder reflect this condition: poor appetite, nausea, and vomiting. Alongside this, the individual has the idea that he or she has turned into a Windigo monster. The extreme anxiety that inevitably comes with this disorder causes victims to sometimes attempt suicide to prevent transformation into the Windigo monster.

    There has been no evidence to suggest that Windigo Psychosis has a cure. In rare cases, treatment by religious healers and Western medicine has shown to be effective, but nothing has shown consistent results. 

Trichotillomania

Trichotillomania is a psychological condition characterized by the overwhelming obsession of pulling out his or her own hair. This compulsive pulling includes, but is not limited to, hair from the scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, and pubic area.

People with this disorder, however, do not all act in the same. Some pull hair out in large handfuls, leaving noticeable bald patches, while others pull their hair one strand at a time. Some are very aware of their habit, while others do not notice what they’re doing. Some pull their hair out, inspect it and/or play with it, while others put the hair in their mouths and swallowing it.

Trichtillomania is more prevalent in girls than guys; between 70% and 93% of victims are female. The cause for the disorder is not obvious, as the age of diagnosis varies. In some, symptoms are recognized as early as 1 year old. In others, a diagnosis is not made until preadolescence or adulthood.

To those with this disorder, all hope is not lost. Cognitive behavioral therapy (called Habit Reversal Training), medication, or a combination of the two have shown promising results in overcoming this debilitating disorder.

In therapy, a person is first taught to recognize when the urge to pull hair is coming on by analyzing the environment that he or she is in. This involves identifying situations, places, or times that have proven to trigger urges to pull hair. When these circumstances are identified, the therapist helps the person to change or eliminate these triggers. In theory, time will make the urges grow weaker and go away.

When a person is just starting this therapy, tension and/or anxiety are not an uncommon occurrence. In addition, the stigma that comes with the physical effects that pulling out body hair is likely to cause a reduction in self confidence and, in most serious cases, depression. This is why it is helpful to have an expert that can offer support and advice to aid the person through this process.

If needed, doctors can prescribe medication to supplement Habit Reversal Training. The drugs prescribed can help the brain better deal with the urges that come with Trichotillomania. There is a plethora of narcotics, used to treat primarily depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, which have proven beneficial to patients with Trichotillomania.

Interview with a victim of Trichotillomania.

Cotard Delusion

Also called Cotard Syndrome or Walking Corpse Syndrome, Cotard Delusion is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by the sufferer holding the belief that he or she is dead. More specifically, the sufferer thinks that he or she is decomposed, non-existent, and/or has lost internal organs.

Jules Cotard first described this disorder at a lecture he was giving in Paris in 1880. In this lecture, Cotard referred to the disorder as le délire de negation, or negation delirium. He used a woman to serve as an example that the disorder has varying degrees of severity, ranging from mild to severe. The woman that he described was in denial about the existence of God, the Devil, several parts of her body, and her need to eat. She went on to believe that she was eternally damned and could no longer die a natural death. Ironically, she died of starvation.

Cotard Delusion is prevalent in cases of psychosis such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Depression, however, is always existent in patients with Cotard Delusion. In rare cases, it has resulted from an adverse drug reaction to antiviral medications that are used primarily to treat shingles and genital herpes.

A patient with Cotard Delusion will show behavior identical or similar to isolating him or herself to an area, such as a bed, for extended amounts of time. The victim will most likely begin to neglect personal hygiene, begin to lose vocal inflections and spontaneous facial expressions, and deny emotive differences. The depression is one that does not cause suicidal ideation, due to the victim’s belief that he or she is already dead.

Cotard Delusion is similar to Capgras’ Delusion as they are both thought to result from a disconnect between the areas of the brain that recognize faces, and the area that responds emotionally to a recognized face.

Cotard Delusion is prevalent in cases of psychosis, such as depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. It has also resulted as the result of an adverse drug reaction to antiviral medications that are used primarily to treat shingles and genital herpes.

Treatment for Cotard Delusion is difficult and very limited; there has been only one therapy that has shown promise: electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT. ECT is a therapy in which seizures are electrically induced onto medically desensitized patients for therapeutic effect. Along with ECT comes the risk of severe memory loss and responsibility. If ECT is not followed by drugs or further ECT, or the benefits will be lost. Also, the treatment cannot be administered without an informed consent by the patient that states the risks, benefits, and reason for treatment.

Following ECT, the medication that the patient is prescribed to maintain benefits gained is very important. Generally, the patient is given Olanzapine, a drug used to treat conditions such as anxiety and eating disorders, and Escitalopram, used to treat anxiety and depression. There have been other cases involving different drugs that share the same general principal. 

Foreign Accent Syndrome

Foreign Accent Syndrome is a rare and acquired condition involving speech production. Sufferers of this condition do not acquire new knowledge of a foreign language, but rather unanticipatedly start to pronounce his or her native language with the accent from another known or unknown language.

Foreign Accent Syndrome, or FAS, is adopted as a result of a severe brain injury. Common culprits of a traumatic brain injury followed by FAS are stroke, trauma caused by sharp impact, multiple sclerosis, brain hemorrhages, and related circumstances.  

Researchers at Oxford University have found that this disorder is caused by specific parts of the brain being injured. This knowledge leads to the realization that certain parts of the brain, namely the cerebellum, control various linguistic functions. If damage is done to these brain parts, the result could be altered pitch, mispronounced syllables, and other specific speech patterns being distorted in a non-specific manner.

Symptoms of Foreign Accent Syndrome pertain to style, presentation, and pronunciation of language. Some symptoms include making vowel sounds unnecessarily shorter and longer (changing English “yeah” to German “jah”); moving jaw differently while speaking,  resulting in changed sound quality of words; mispronunciation of syllables; and altered pitch of speech. Symptoms could last for months or years.

When a person is diagnosed with Foreign Accent Syndrome, there is one primary treatment option that he or she can undergo: speech therapy. Skills such as moving the lips and jaw differently while speaking are attended to and mastered by both therapist and patient. Developing these techniques may help to alleviate, if not solve, the problem.

To supplement speech therapy, counseling may be an option for the patient. While this will not cure the condition, it may help the victim and his or her family to better cope. This is important because of FAS’ rarity, resulting in a high likelihood for feelings of isolation and embarrassment to be present.

Capgras' Delusion

Also called Capgras Syndrome, this disorder is characterized by the delusion that a close family member is impostor that looks exactly like him or her. Delusions can occur in an acute, transient, or chronic form.

Most frequently Capgras Delusion is prevalent in patients with schizophrenia, but has also been found in people with conditions such as dementia or a brain injury. It is most common in females, with a female:male ratio of 3:2.

A 1984 study by R.M. Bauer revealed that, even though face recognition was impaired, the patients with this disorder showed activity in the peripheral nervous system, controlling involuntary responses such as perspiration, salivation, sexual arousal, and similar responses.

In 1997 Hadyn Ellis and his colleagues administered a study using five people with Capgras Delusion and schizophrenia. The people in the study could consciously recognize faces, but did not show normal autonomic emotional arousal response. Abnormal autonomic emotional responses are related to Crapgras patients recognizing faces, but remaining emotionally detached as a result of believing that said person is an impostor.

Vilayanur Ramachandran, a behavioral neurologist, hypothesizes that the origin of this condition is a disconnection between the temporal cortex, the part of the brain used to recognize faces, and the limbic system, the part of the brain that produces emotion.


Although no definitive impairment has been linked to this disorder, researchers have concluded that victims have an impairment in reasoning. There is no known treatment for this condition.