14 Weird And Little Known Psychological Disorders
The human brain is still one of humanity’s greatest mysteries. Discover some weird psychological disorders here that affect more people than you might think.
The psychological disorders that can affect the organ of our thought are as disturbing as they are fascinating: delusions, dissociative states, overwhelming experiences, brain abnormalities, etc.
They show that the human mind is something wonderful, infinite and surprising.
We have all heard of mental problems like schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder. But the list of psychological disorders is much longer. Quite a few of them are strange and unrecognized.
Find out about 14 unusual psychological disorders that affect ordinary people here.
1. The delusion of Capgras lookalikes
Those who suffer from this disorder are convinced that those close to them have been replaced by identical look-alikes.
This syndrome, or delirium, is more common in people with schizophrenia, although it can also occur in patients with dementia, epilepsy, or traumatic brain injury.
2. Fregoli syndrome
It is the opposite of Capgras’ delirium. In this case, the person who suffers from it is seized by the anguish that the different people around him, are in reality one and the same person, who changes his appearance or who disguises himself to deceive him.
Similar to Capgras delirium, Fregoli syndrome manifests itself most often in people with schizophrenia, but also in people with dementia, epilepsy or traumatic brain injury.
3. The delirium of negation or Cotard syndrome
The person affected by this disorder has a delusional belief that they are dead.
She would therefore not exist, and would be in a state of putrefaction or would have lost her blood and internal organs.
Cotard syndrome is most commonly seen in patients with psychotic depression or schizophrenia.
4. Reduplicative paramnesia is one of the strange psychological disorders
This pathology consists in believing that a place has been duplicated, that is to say that there is an exact copy of an already existing place, which coexists simultaneously with the other.
For example, the patient may believe that the hospital they are in has been duplicated and has changed address. It comes close to the belief that there are parallel worlds.
5. Foreign hand syndrome
People who suffer from this syndrome think that their hand does not belong to them, but that it has a life of its own.
Patients affected by this disorder can go so far as to personify this member they consider foreign, and can even attribute spiritual powers to it.
Usually, this problem is found in people who have suffered damage in the corpus callosum, the part that unites the two cerebral hemispheres.
6. The micropsy and the macropsy
These are neurological conditions in which the perception of image, space and time is distended.
The most worrying symptom is altered body image. Those who suffer from this disease have a distorted perception of their size and the shape of their limbs.
This can cause real terror to those who think they are giants or Lilliputians.
This disorder is associated with migraines, brain tumors, drug use, or infections. The best treatment is rest.
This problem is also called Alice in Wonderland syndrome.
7. The Jerusalem Syndrome
This syndrome is characterized by the presence of obsessive ideas, delusions and other types of demented experiences in relation to religious themes.
These psychological disorders are triggered by a visit to the city of Jerusalem.
The syndrome is not confined to a single religion and occurs in people who had already suffered from a mental illness before coming to the holy city.
Delusions and obsessive thoughts dissipate after leaving the area for several days.
8. Paris syndrome
This syndrome occurs in Japanese tourists who visit the city of Paris. These people suffer from a severe nervous breakdown during their visit.
However, this syndrome is observed in these same Japanese tourists when they visit other regions of France or Spain.
It is the result of culture shock, which causes them to experience physical and emotional symptoms of anxiety, such as derealization, depersonalization, delusional flashes, hallucinations, etc.
Of the 6 million Japanese tourists who visit Paris each year, only about 20 of them experience this problem.
The triggers of this disorder are idealization, the language barrier, mental and physical fatigue, as well as the confrontation with radically different cultural habits.
9. The dissociative fugue
People who suffer from this mental disorder travel completely at random. They wander mechanically in unknown places without remembering their identity or what led them to where they are.
Usually, these episodes appear after severe emotional and physical stress attacks , after taking psychotropic substances, due to certain medical illnesses, etc.
10. Foreign accent syndrome
The person who suffers from this condition speaks their native language with a strong foreign accent.
This disease is uncommon and is thought to result from a severe head trauma, or from an injury that affects the neurons associated with language.
11. Stockholm syndrome, one of the most famous psychological disorders
This very famous syndrome is characterized by the sympathy and loyalty that a person feels towards the one who keeps them sequestered.
This disorder therefore occurs during kidnapping, but also rape, abuse of a minor, conjugal submission, etc. It was discovered after a bank robbery in 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden.
The victims of the robbery had become so attached to the perpetrators that they refused to testify against them.
12. Lima syndrome
It is the reverse of Stockholm syndrome. The victims of kidnapping become very sympathetic in the eyes of their torturers, who end up succumbing to their every desire and need.
This reaction is underpinned by the feeling of guilt and the moral indecision of the kidnappers.
The origin of the name of this syndrome comes from a kidnapping at the Embassy of Japan in Lima, Peru.
14 members of the Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru took a hundred hostages for several days. Among them were politicians, diplomats and the military.
After a while, the kidnapped people were freed by their captors who began to no longer bear the situation they were inflicting on their prisoners.
13. Stendhal syndrome
Stendhal syndrome is characterized by physical and emotional anxiety, dissociative experiences, great confusion, and hallucinations that a person may suffer from when confronted with a work of art.
This happens when the person observes a particularly beautiful work or when they focus in an exaggerated way on a particular creation.
By extension, this syndrome also covers the delusional reactions that can be observed in some people confronted with an exceptional natural landscape.
In general, this experience is limited in time. People who suffer from it simply need to be framed at the time of their delirium attack.
14. Diogenes syndrome
This syndrome is characterized by excessive carelessness, social isolation, apathy and the compulsive accumulation of rubbish.
It mainly affects the elderly: it is associated with progressive senile dementia.
Its name comes from a famous thinker of Ancient Greece whose story we are going to tell you.
Diogenes of Sinope (413 BC – 327 BC) was a Greek philosopher, cynical and minimalist.
His philosophy was based on the idea that the purpose of life was to live a virtuous existence in accordance with nature and in opposition to all the conventional needs of society (wealth, power, health and glory).
It was said that he lived in a wine barrel in the streets of Athens. He was very famous for the effrontery and the unassuming manners he displayed in front of Alexander the Great.
The emperor said to him one day: “Ask me what you want, I will give it to you”. To which Diogenes replied: “Get away from my sun”.
The psychological disorders that we have told you about here are only a small part of the mental problems that can affect the human brain.
We hope you enjoyed this article on psychological disorders!
