“The Strangest and Rarest Syndromes in Psychiatry: From Alien Hands to Walking Corpses”

Most people are familiar with well-known mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but there are some cases that are so “rare” that many psychiatrists will not come across one in their careers.Science Alert“.

The report reviews five of the “strangest and rarest” syndromes known in psychiatry.

Fregoli syndrome

This was namedRare mental disordernamed after Leopoldo Fregoli, an Italian stage actor who was known for his remarkable ability to quickly change his appearance while on stage.

The person with this syndrome believes that all the people around him are “one and only”, but he changes his appearance and disguises himself in many ways to “deceive” him.

This syndrome usually occurs with other mental disorders, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In 1927, doctors detected the first case of Fregoli syndrome in a woman, and fewer than 50 cases of the disorder had been reported worldwide since then until 2018, according to “previous study“.

reference”A recent studypublished in 2020, the syndrome occurs in 1.1 percent of patients after a stroke.

To date, there is no known cure for the syndrome, but antipsychotic medications may relieve symptoms.

Cotard’s syndrome

Also known as “The walking corpse syndromeThe sufferer believes that he is dead and does not exist, while others believe that his body parts are missing.

and namedSyndromeNamed after the French neurologist, Jules Cotard, who first described the condition in 1882.

Schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder are all risk factors for Cotard’s syndrome and have also been reported as a rare side effect of the antiviral drug acyclovir.

This rare condition is usually treated with antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and electric shock.

alien hand syndrome

It is one of the strangest neurological disorders, and the sufferer believes that “his hand is not his own and has a mind of its own and acts independently.”

This syndrome was first recognized in 1908 but was not clearly defined until the early 1970s.

coined the term “Alien hand syndromeAmerican neurophysiologist Joseph Bogin, to describe the curious, wayward behavior that sometimes occurs during recovery from certain types of brain surgery.

The causes of the syndrome include dementia, strokes, prion disease (a fatal brain disease), tumors and seizures. Cases of the disorder have also been reported among patients who underwent surgery to separate the left and right hemispheres of the brain to treat severe epilepsy.

revealed review In 2013, 150 cases of this syndrome were reported worldwide.

Although there is no cure for the syndrome, symptoms can be reduced to some extent by keeping the affected hand busy and participating in a task, as well as receiving some treatments.

Ekbom syndrome

Tactile hallucinations and itching, and the affected person believes they have “parasites or insects crawling under their skin”.

The syndrome is named after Swedish neurologist, Carl Ekbom, who first described the condition in the late 1930s.

The exact number of people with this syndrome is not known, but “one of the studiesShe detects about 20 new cases annually in a large US referral clinic.

The syndrome is associated with several conditions, including paranoid schizophrenia, organic brain disease, and neurosis.

The syndrome is also associated with paranoid personality disorder, which has been reported in some people undergoing withdrawal from alcohol, cocaine misuse, strokes, and dementia.

Patients with the syndrome often refuse “psychiatric treatment” because they believe they need medical intervention.

Syndrome “Alice in Wonderland”

Also known as Todd’s syndrome, it refers to a distortion in a person’s sense of “body image, vision, hearing, and touch,” as well as a lack of sense of “space and time.”

People with this condition often believe that “things are bigger or smaller than they really are”, and this may be accompanied by feelings of paranoia.

Not much is known about how common the disorder is, and people with the condition can experience “fear and panic,” so successful treatment often includes rest and relaxation.

And in 2016, it was reported review About half of people with the syndrome are “successfully treated”.