Many people suffer daily from mental disorders and conditions such as general anxiety disorder, depression, schizophrenia, OCD, and many other commonly known conditions. There are many commercials, ads, movies, and TV shows always promoting the importance of common mental health disorders, but what about the conditions you might have never heard of?
What if I told you there are 200 types of known mental disorders today, some of which include your average panic attacks and personality disorders, while others are a little more strange and unheard of? Conditions that make people believe they aren’t even human or alive. Because these disorders are a lot less common they tend to get swept under the rug, and could even be seen as nothing other than bizarre.
1. Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder
This disorder takes the phrase “an out-of-body experience” literally. People with depersonalization disorder feel as if they are not in their own bodies and even observing themselves from the outside. Those with derealization disorder feel as though things around them are not real or not actually happening. People would experience time slowing down or speeding up more than it normally would or that everything around them is distorted, a longer distance than it actually is, or changing in front of their eyes.
In order for someone to be diagnosed with depersonalization or derealization disorder, they need to be experiencing symptoms without the influence of medications, recreational drugs, or other mental health issues that may cause hallucinations. These symptoms must be consistent and not just brief. The best way to describe the experience is to feel like you're constantly dreaming while awake.
2. Clinical Lycanthropy
If you ever met anyone who claims they can transform into a werewolf during a full moon, they might be experiencing clinical lycanthropy. People who suffer from clinal lycanthropy believe they can transform into any animal. They will even act like said animals and try and live in their natural habitat.
The name came from the mythical condition of lycanthropy, which means to shapeshift into a werewolf. Clinical lycanthropy is simply just a delusion, and the patient will truly believe they have taken the form of a specific animal.
3. Stendhal Syndrome
Have you ever seen something so beautiful that it made you want to faint? Those with Stendhal syndrome will experience that quite often. Named after a 19th-century French author, Stendhal syndrome is when someone experiences panic attack-like symptoms when exposed to beautiful pieces of art. Experiences would include rapid heartbeat, palpitations, confusion, and even hallucinations all while viewing the greatest artwork you may have ever seen.
The author Stendhal went to visit Florence, Italy in 1817 where he started to experience the symptoms of the disorder after visiting the Basilica of Santa Crose and admiring its beauty. Although the condition is very rare and many people doubt it truly exists, the intensity of the symptoms declared the syndrome to be a mental health condition.
4. Alien Hand Syndrome
This condition will leave its victim believing their hand is not their own. While they may have control over one of their hands, the other is a separate entity and has a mind of its own. Alien hand syndrome is believed to be caused by damage to either the corpus callosum or the parietal lobe of the brain due to a stroke or trauma. Either way, the victim of the syndrome doesn’t believe their one hand is truly in their control and moves autonomously at all times.
5. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
Also known as Todd syndrome, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a condition where one’s perception of size and distance are altered. Some with Alice in Wonderland syndrome may see things larger or smaller than usual as well as further than they appear. As bizarre as this condition sounds already, the main symptom would be the patient's perspective of their own body parts. They may be confused about the size of their limbs triggering panic within the victim. There are even instances where patients have reported feeling as if they were split vertically in half, with their right half and left half feeling disconnected, yet they can still feel both sides.
Mostly common in children, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome can also affect adults. The symptoms of the disorder are said to be triggered by frequent migraines, brain tumors, people with epilepsy, or even drug use.
6. Apotemnophilia
This condition can be a bit grim. Apotemnophilia is a disorder that gives its victim an overwhelming desire to amputate a part of their body. Normally there is nothing wrong with that part of the body, but those suffering from this disorder will either attempt to amputate the limb themselves or damage the body part enough to where it will need to be surgically removed.
There is limited research on Apotemnophilia at the moment, but experts suggest that this condition may result from damage to the parietal lobe in the patient’s brain. Cognitive behavioral therapy may help the patient to manage their urges and avoid harming or removing a perfectly healthy limb.
7. Capgras Syndrome
Ever felt like the government or aliens replaced your best friend? Those with Capgras syndrome believe that someone meaningful in their lives has been replaced by an imposter. They hold on to this delusion and start to treat their loved ones as if they are an identical imposter. Although this condition mainly affects women, all genders are prone to getting the delusional misidentification syndrome.
Named after a French psychiatrist, Joseph Capgras, brain damage to the bifrontal, right limbic, and temporal regions are likely the causes of Capgras syndrome. This affects the brain's emotional processes and facial recognition features, causing the victim to believe who they see is not the original. It also occurs in patients with schizophrenia or dementia as well.
8. Walking Corpse Syndrome
As creepy as this sounds it’s better to just call it Cotard’s Syndrome. Named after another French psychiatrist, Jules Cotard, Walking Corpse Syndrome is a very rare condition where the patients believe they are either dying or already dead. This will include the patient believing they no longer exist and will become anti-social fully believing the delusion that they are a walking zombie. Some patients even claimed to hear voices confirming their death.
Although it is not clear what causes walking corpse syndrome, professionals believe it is caused by damage to the brain caused by epilepsy, blood clots, strokes, or even trauma. There are only about 200 known cases of the disorder making it extremely rare. One of the last known cases was in 2008 by a 53-year-old woman who claimed she smelt like rotting fish and demanded to be placed in the morgue with the rest of the dead people.
9. Fregoli Delusion
Named after an actor famous for their ability to change costumes so quickly, Fregoli delusion is a condition in which the patient believes that different people are actually just one person constantly changing their appearance or switching disguises. Those affected by Fregoli delusion have trouble fully identifying people around them making them paranoid and think that someone is trying to deceive them.
Not much is known about Fregoli delusion. It is said to be caused by either trauma to the brain’s frontal lobe or the Parkinson’s disease medication Levodopa. It could also be a side effect of schizophrenia.
10. Kluver-Bucy Syndrome
This condition is more of a behavior impairment where the patient will put objects in their mouth and perform inappropriate sexual behaviors, as well as lack the feeling of fear and aggression. Constantly putting things in their mouths and sucking and licking them engaging in hyperorality and hypersexuality. Those with Kluver-Bucy syndrome also experience memory loss, seizures, and even visual agnosia.
Kluver-Bucy syndrome is said to be caused by brain damage to the temporal lobe caused by trauma, brain infections, tumors, and even stroke. It is a very disturbing condition, causing the victim to constantly put things in their mouths as well as lose all sense of fear making it very dangerous for an individual.
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