Rare and Interesting Mental Disorders and Illnesses

Boanthropy Boanthropy is an illness in which sufferers take to the belief that they are cattle. Some Christians consider the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar to have suffered from this disorder. "He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle." (Daniel 4:33)

Paris Syndrome
The syndrome is what some polite Japanese tourists suffer when they discover that Parisians can be rude or the city does not meet their expectations. The reality of coming to terms with the profound culture shock after realising that their ideals about the French capital are unrealistic sees around 100 Japanese expatriates a year consulting a psychiatrist, and a quarter of that number hospitalised. The victims are more often than not young women besotted by Paris' chic, romantic image.

Stendhal Syndrome
Dizziness, panic, paranoia, or madness caused by viewing certain artistic or historical artifacts or by trying to see too many such artifacts in too short a time.

Jerusalem Syndrome
The Jerusalem syndrome is the name given to a group of mental phenomena involving the presence of either religiously themed obsessive ideas, delusions or other psychosis-like experiences, that are triggered by, or lead to, a visit to the city of Jerusalem.

Capgras Delusion
The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) is a disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that a friend, spouse or other close family member, has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. The Capgras delusion is classed as a delusional misidentification syndrome, a class of delusional beliefs that involves the misidentification of people, places or objects. It can occur in acute, transient, or chronic forms.

Fregoli Delusion
Fregoli syndrome is the delusional belief that one or more familiar persons, usually persecutors following the patient, repeatedly change their appearance. This syndrome has often been discussed as a variant of the Capgras syndrome in the literature, but these two syndromes have different phenomenological structures and age and sex distributions. The author presents a review of 34 cases of Fregoli syndrome in the English and French language literature, discussing the syndrome's definition, aetiology and course. It is suggested that although an organic substrate may be found in some cases, it is the dominant psychotic theme which determines the content of the syndrome.
Rare and Interesting Mental Disorders and Illnesses


Cotard Delusion
The Cotard delusion or Cotard's syndrome, also known as nihilistic or negation delusion, is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that he or she is dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his/her blood or internal organs. Rarely, it can include delusions of immortality.

It is named after Jules Cotard (1840–1889), a French neurologist who first described the condition, which he called le délire de négation ("negation delirium"), in a lecture in Paris in 1880. He described the syndrome as having various degrees of severity, ranging from mild to severe. In a mild state, feelings of despair and self-loathing occur, while in the severe state a person with Cotard's syndrome actually starts to deny the very existence of the self.

Reduplicative Paramnesia
Reduplicative paramnesia is the delusional belief that a place or location has been duplicated, existing in two or more places simultaneously, or that it has been 'relocated' to another site. It is one of the delusional misidentification syndromes and, although rare, is most commonly associated with acquired brain injury, particularly simultaneous damage to the right cerebral hemisphere and to both frontal lobes.

Foreign Accent Syndrome
Some patients who suffer brain injuries occasionally lose the ability to talk in their native accent (...) The condition, called "foreign accent syndrome", affects only a tiny number of patients.
It can mean that a native English speaker can end up sounding more like Spanish or French. (...) combination of subtle changes to vocal features such as lengthening of syllables, altered pitch or mispronounced sounds which make a patient's pronunciation sound similar to a foreign accent.

Alien Hand Syndrome
Alien hand syndrome (anarchic hand or Dr. Strangelove syndrome) is an unusual neurological disorder in which one of the sufferer's hands seems to take on a mind of its own. AHS is best documented in cases where a person has had the two hemispheres of their brain surgically separated, a procedure sometimes used to relieve the symptoms of extreme cases of epilepsy. It also occurs in some cases after other brain surgery, strokes, or infections.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS)
Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS, named after the novel written by Lewis Carroll), also known as Todd's syndrome, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human perception. Sufferers may experience micropsia (see below), macropsia (see below), and/or size distortion of other sensory modalities. A temporary condition, it is often associated with migraines, brain tumors, and the use of psychoactive drugs.

(Micropsia is a neurological condition affecting human visual perception, in which objects appear smaller than normal, and the subject bigger.)

(Macropsia is a neurological condition affecting human visual perception, in which objects appear larger than normal, and the subject smaller.)

Apotemnophilia
Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), also known as Amputee Identity Disorder or Apotemnophilia (from Greek αποτέμνειν "to cut off", and φιλία "love of") is the overwhelming desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs or other parts of the body. Although it most commonly refers to people who wish to amputate limbs, BIID also applies to those who wish to alter their bodily integrity.

Genital Retraction Syndrome Those suffering from GRS are overcome with the fear they they're external genitals (this includes the breasts) are actually shrinking, and/or retracting into the body to the point of complete disappearance.

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
It results in an exaggerated "startle" reflex, and was first noted among related French-Canadian lumberjacks in the Moosehead Lake area of Maine. It is not clear if the disorder is neurological or psychological.

The "Jumping Frenchmen" seemed to react abnormally to sudden stimuli. Beard recorded, for instance, individuals who would obey any command given suddenly, even if it meant striking a loved one, and repeat back unfamiliar or foreign phrases uncontrollably. Beard also noticed that the condition was often shared within a family, suggesting that it was inherited.

Trichotillomania
Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder characterized by an overwhelming urge to pull out one's own hair, often resulting in patches of baldness. The hair on the scalp is most often affected. The eyelashes, eyebrows, and beard are also affected often. In some cases, affected individuals chew and/or swallow (ingest) the hair they have pulled out (trichophagy). The exact cause of trichotillomania is unknown.

Wendigo Psychosis
Wendigo Psychosis is a culture-bound disorder which involves an intense craving for human flesh and the fear that one will turn into a cannibal. This once occurred frequently among Algonquian Indian cultures, though has declined with the Native American urbanization.

Exploding head syndrome
Exploding head syndrome is a rare and relatively undocumented parasomnia event in which the subject experiences a loud bang in their head similar to a bomb exploding, a gun going off, a clash of cymbals or any other form of loud, indecipherable noise that seems to originate from inside the head. Contrary to the name, exploding head syndrome has no elements of pain, swelling or any other physical trait associated with it. They may be perceived as having bright flashes of light accompanying them, or result in shortness of breath, though this is likely caused by the increased heart rate of the subject after experiencing it. It most often occurs just before deep sleep, and sometimes upon coming out of deep sleep.

33 comments:

  1. I don't think that exploding head syndrome is all that rare. I have had this experience twice, about a week apart. I was just falling asleep and it was the loudest noise I had ever heard--excruciatingly loud. Quite scary.

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  2. This is ripped off. http://listverse.com/health/top-10-bizarre-mental-disorders/ The words are verbatim, come on man, get something better to do.

    Henrytmyers@gmail.com

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    1. i think this is a fake reply used to piss off people so much they send emails to someone elses address!!

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  3. It's not a rip off, this list has a lot more illnesses, and the descriptions are completely different. Just because there is some over lap, doesn't mean it is a rip off. If you look you will see that the listverse site has some that this one doesn't, and visa versa. How on earth would you claim these to be identical? You shouldn't accuse someone of plagiarism, without solid evidence. Citing the same sources on some of the illnesses is not plagiarism.

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  4. As you can see, I looked into it, and they are totally different. What is more, Now That's Nifty gives sources for all illnesses, listverse does not. They do not share the same sources, nor the many of the same illnesses.

    Now That's Nifty:
    Boanthropy (not on listverse)
    Paris Syndrome (on both) Different Source
    Stendhal Syndrome (on both) Different Source
    Jerusalem Syndrome (on both)Different Source
    Capgras Delusion (on both)Different Source
    Fregoli Delusion (on both)Different Source
    Cotard Delusion (on both)Different Source
    Reduplicative Paramnesia (on both)Different Source
    Foreign Accent Syndrome (not on listverse)
    Alien Hand Syndrome (not on listverse)
    Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS)(not on listverse)
    Apotemnophilia (not on listverse)
    Genital Retraction Syndrome (not on listverse)
    Jumping Frenchmen of Maine (not on listverse)
    Trichotillomania (not on listverse)
    Wendigo Psychosis (not on listverse)
    Exploding head syndrome (not on listverse)

    Listverse:
    Reduplicative Paramnesia (on both)Different Source
    Cotard Delusion (on both)Different Source
    Fregoli Delusion (on both)Different Source
    Capgras Delusion (on both)Different Source
    Jerusalem Syndrome (on both)Different Source
    Stendhal Syndrome (on both) Different Source
    Paris Syndrome (on both) Different Source
    Diogenes Syndrome ( not on Now That's Nifty)
    Lima Syndrome( not on Now That's Nifty)
    Stockholm Syndrome( not on Now That's Nifty)

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  5. Since I was young I had fever attacks that included Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) and this horrible, overwhelming counting "1...2...3....4!.......5!!.......6!!!.......7!!!!!!.......8!!!!!!!! etc... and sparkling multi-coloured dots.

    These days it is rarer and less extreme, actually sort of fun, especially the AIWS part.

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  6. It's noteworthy that 2 people thought this article was "funny"

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  7. I think I have trichotillomania. I have this very strong compulsion to pull out the little hairs between my eyebrows at the top of my nose, then touch my lips with them. I don't eat them, I pull them out, touch my lips with them, then discard them. It's weird.

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  8. Henry - you are a dick.

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  9. Some of these diseases are hilarious. i would love to start following someone with 'Fregoli Delusion' and keep changing my appearance.

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  10. I have the urge to chew off all my fingers. its very bizarre

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  11. That exploding head syndrome is probably just the precursor to an OBE. Vibrations and loud sounds from the head that no one else can hear. The first comment says he experieinced it when falling asleep...bingo. The most prevelent time for an OBE

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  12. Trichotillomania isn't that rare. It's a symptom of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It is estimated that 2.5 million people in the U.S. experience Trichotillomania in their lives.

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  13. Je pense avoir la trichotillomanie. J'ai cette contrainte très forte pour sortir les petits poils entre les sourcils au dessus de mon nez, puis appuyez sur mes lèvres avec eux. Je ne les mange pas, je les sortir, toucher mes lèvres avec eux, puis les jeter. C'est bizarre.

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  14. I have trichotillomania. I don't think this is a disease..its normal! I feel offended this is classified as a disease because it is my hobby. I do it to others when they're not looking too. I'm perfectly fine! hmph

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  15. i just a woke from a vivid dream in which it was said that a certain person had an inability to conceive of anything as being untrue. now, i'm trying to discover if that might be a documented psychological condition.
    my email is mducklo3@yahoo.com if you know of something like this. thanks.

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  16. As you can see, I looked into it, and they are totally different. What is more, Now That's Nifty gives sources for all illnesses, listverse does not. They do not share the same sources, nor the many of the same illnesses.

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  17. A clash of cymbals or any other form of loud, indecipherable noise that seems to originate from inside the head.

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  18. I have trichotillomania... A comment above said its a symptom of OCD, but my psychologist never said anything about obsessive compulsive disorder when we discuss my hair pulling... I'm a bit confused.

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  19. Contrary to the name, exploding head syndrome has no elements of pain, swelling or any other physical trait associated with it.

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  20. Exploding head syndrome is not a rare mental dissorder............

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  21. I find myself picking at my eyelashes by habit, which is really upsetting because I take pride in my eyelashes :"(

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  22. A clash of cymbals or any other form of loud, indecipherable noise that seems to originate from inside the head

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  23. A few of you are saying that these thigs are normal and they are not a disorder when in all actuality they are very much a mental disease or pyschological disorder. To you they may seem normal but scientist and psychologist have classified these as such for a reason. Not everyone wants to pull out their hair or eyelashes. Some people cant help it and that right there is the definition of a disorder. And Death the Kid you dont neccisarily have to have OCD to have Trichotillomania it is just a disorder that is highly related to OCD

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  24. I have Boanthropy and Wendingo psychosis. At time I believe I am a cow, but one that eats meat, and I ate all my family.

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  25. I don't think this is a disease..its normal! I feel offended this is classified as a disease because it is my hobby. I do it to others when they're not looking too. I'm perfectly fine!

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  26. The reality of coming to terms with the profound culture shock.

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  27. Boanthropy is something new for me, and although I'm sorry for those suffering from it, I do think that it would be fun to watch someone acting like a cattle.

    And the guy above me is right. Although to some of you, it might feel normal to pick your eyelashes for whatever reason, but scientists have discovered that this is actually not normal.

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  28. Are there any cures for these disorders?

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  29. maybe Beard also noticed that the condition was often shared within a family, suggesting that it was inherited.

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  30. He described the syndrome as having various degrees of severity, ranging from mild to severe.

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  31. Interesting list. It would be nice include some approximate numbers.

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