The human mind hides many secrets that can sometimes be strange. And it is precisely through the rarest psychological disorders that we can realize this.
The human mind is amazing, and the changes that can occur if its functioning is altered are also surprising. It is difficult for us to understand how brain conditions that we cannot see are capable of changing the functionality and status of people and even more so if these pathologies are out of the ordinary or are not the ones that we typically know or occur more frequently.
Thus, there are symptoms that cause surprising behavior to be shown in patients that can even make us think that they are simulating it and such an alteration cannot be real, since we see that sometimes not even the patient is aware that it seems such. alteration and will act as if he had no pathology.
Below we will mention some of the strangest disorders and syndromes , linked to different food, perceptual, thought, memory, and attention conditions, which will make you question alterations or pathologies that you did not think possible.
- We recommend you read: “Cotard syndrome: causes, symptoms and treatment”
What are the rarest mental affections?
The human mind never ceases to amaze us, the more we know about it, the more we are amazed at its functioning and the symptoms that may appear when some alteration occurs. Thanks to this complex gear we can carry out all bodily functions and lead a normal life, but when some of its components, structures or neurotransmitters fail, conditions appear that affect the life of the individual.
Given the complexity of the human brain, the pathologies that can appear are multiple, some of them being more frequent and therefore better known, such as mood disorders or anxiety disorders, and others more rare and uncommon, such as those that we will see below . It should also be noted that these strangest alterations do not have to be new, but rather that now, by having more knowledge of our mind, we can name and classify disorders that were not previously taken into account and were simply considered to be crazy.
1. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is classified as psychopathology of sensoperception, specifically we will say that it is a cognitive distortion. This alteration consists of the change or modification of an external stimulus, but unlike the known hallucinations, in the case of distortions there is a real stimulus.
In this syndrome we will observe how the patient sees an object or an individual smaller than its actual size , this phenomenon is called micropsia or larger, which would be called macropsia. Sometimes this modification of the perception of size in the body itself can also occur, in which case we will call it autometamorphopsia. Normally the syndrome is due to an alteration in the perception of distance, with the patient often being aware of their problem and therefore it can affect their mood.
2. Left Spatial Neglect Syndrome
Left Spatial Neglect Syndrome is an attention disorder where the patient ignores the left part of the visual field . In this affectation we see that the lesion occurs in the right parietal lobe, and not in the occipital lobe, which is the one that is related to vision, it is for this reason that the subject does not show visual alterations, that is, he can see well , the problem is at the attentional level, thus ignoring all or part of the information from the left visual field.
Typical situations that can occur in these patients are that they ignore the left part of their own body, they do not recognize it as their own and they can get scared when they see it, they may also not eat part of their food that is left on their plate or when we ask them to draw they do so incompletely, only the left side. To verify that the alteration is not visual, we verify that if we turn the page where the drawing was made, it will be possible to follow it and complete it without problems.
3. Autoscopy or double phenomenon
Autoscopy is an alteration classified within perceptual delusions or hallucinations where the patient perceives himself in space in outer space, and knows that it is him. In this way we will classify this hallucination as visual, although it is also normal for somesthetic or somatic hallucinations to appear, which refers to an internal or bodily sensation that confirms that the individual we see is us.
If this alteration has not yet surprised you enough, it remains for us to add that the opposite case can also occur where the subject does not perceive himself in the mirror , thus being called negative autoscopy. We can observe this phenomenon in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, hysterical states, brain injuries or states of intoxication, among others, although it can also appear in the normal population, without disorder, in situations of intense emotional disturbance or when the subject is very tired, affecting So your perception.
4. Dissociative fugue
Dissociative fugue is an alteration that appears abruptly and disappears in the same way. In it we observe how the patient loses his own identity and makes a sudden trip away from the place where he lives or works , that is, for a period of time the patient does not remember her identity and abandons her life.
When the alteration disappears and the subject completely recovers his identity, we see that he is not able to remember the period of flight, there is a time interval of his life that he does not remember. In the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5) this alteration appears as a specifier of dissociative amnesia, which refers to the impossibility of remembering important autobiographical information.
5. Paramnesia reduplicada
Reduplicated paramnesia is an alteration of memory, more specifically of recognition, in this case there is a false positive recognition where the subject claims to know a place, a person or an object, when in fact it is the first time he sees them. For example, a hospitalized patient says that he has already been in that hospital and that he already knows the nurse when he had never been before.
6. Pica
Pica is a disorder classified within eating and eating disorders, where we observe that the patient repeatedly ingests, for at least 1 month, non-nutritive substances , that is, objects or substances that are not considered food.
This alteration is linked to psychological affectations such as a lack of attention or attentional deprivation or biological affectations such as a deficit of vitamins or minerals or of iron and zinc, this deficit is linked to geophagia that consists of the subject as land.
7. Capgras Syndrome
Capgras syndrome or also called Sosías illusion is classified as a thought disorder, a delusion, where the subject believes that a person he knows, such as family or friends, are impostors, that is, they see that they are physically the same but believe They are psychologically different. His father is the same physically but his identity has been usurped by someone else.
8. Cotard’s Syndrome
Cotard’s syndrome or nihilistic delusional idea is characterized by the strange and incomprehensible feeling that the person who suffers from it has of not existing or being dead . As we can see, this alteration that we can also call delusion of denial, is named after the famous philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche since we observe how the patient has the delusional belief that he is dead, the self has died.
Thus, it can be accompanied by hallucinations such as the feeling that he has lost his blood and that his organs, his body, are rotting. Given its characteristics, this pathology will be found in schizophrenic patients, although it can also be observed in depressed subjects with psychotic symptoms.
9. Anton Syndrome
In Anton’s Syndrome we observe cortical blindness, this is a type of blindness that appears due to injury to the occipital lobe where the patient will not be able to see, but he will not be aware of them, that is, anosognosia occurs and he will affirm that he does he can do it by talking and behaving as if it were really possible, so we will also observe collusion.
We will therefore see that the subject collides, tries to go through doors or walls and may even refer to seeing people who are not really present. This affectation may occur as a result of a cerebrovascular accident, a brain tumor or a cerebral hemorrhage that, as we said, affect the area of vision, the occipital lobe.
10. Blindsight
Blindsight is also a curious phenomenon since in this affectation we see how patients who claim not to be able to see, are able to unconsciously detect and avoid objects or people , we could say that they see without being able to see. As an example of this pathology, we will see that patients who suffer from it will say that they cannot perceive us visually, but if we stand in front of them they will be able to avoid us and not collide with us.
We observe because these patients can perceive colors, the location of objects, the direction of lines or facial expressions. They will only have trouble detecting nuances or more subtle features or complex movements.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.
