6-2: Much Weirdness

Hello Internet!

Today, I have decided to venture into a topic that is extremely unfamiliar to me. Over the past several weeks as I have studied my topic of mental illness in more depth, I have learned a lot about some of the most common mental disorders. Today I am going to be looking into some disorders that aren’t as well known and may seem somewhat obscure.

1.    Capgras Syndrome- When someone has the constant fear that their loved ones have been replaced by identical looking doubles or imposters. This disorder often occurs along with schizophrenia and can cause the patient to become extremely distrusting of those around them.

2.    Cotard Delusion- Someone with Cotard delusion lives with the belief that they are dead, does not exist, or has lost their blood or internal organs. This disorder is most commonly found in people with psychotic depression or schizophrenia.

3.    Paris Syndrome- Paris syndrome is very odd because it only affects one nationality of people. It affects Japanese tourists who visit france or spain. The symptoms of this syndrome include anxiety, derealization, depersonalization, and hallucinations. Some triggers may include the language barrier, the extreme difference in culture, or physical exhaustion.

4.    Fregoli Syndrome- This disorder is considered the inverse of Capgras syndrome. Medscape.com defines Fregoli syndrome as, “A person’s delusional belief that persecutors or familiar people can assume the guise of strangers, in that different people are in fact a single person who changes his or her appearance or who appears in disguise.” This disorder also most commonly occurs in patients with schizophrenia, causing the patient to become suspicious of everyone.

5.    Todd Syndrome- A patient with Todd syndrome has a distorted perception of body image, space, or other sensorial distortions. Todd syndrome is often found in people with migranes, brain tumors, or as a side effect of psychoactive drugs.

6.    Reduplicative Paramnesia- This disorder also deals with the idea of doubles. Someone with reduplicative paramnesia delusionally believing that a place has been duplicated, has been relocated, or exists in 2 places at the same time. This disorder can be found in patients with various other mental disorders but was first discovered in a patient with Alzheimer disease.

7.    Foreign Accent Syndrome- This syndrome is a rare condition that causes the patient to speak their native language as if they had a foreign accent. This often occurs in patients who have suffered some kind of brain trauma, most commonly a stroke.

8.    Alien Hand Syndrome- This disorder causes the patient to believe that their hand does not belong to them and it has its own life. It is primarily caused by a stroke or other brain damage.

9.    Jerusalem Syndrome- This syndrome makes the patient delusional about religiously themed obsessive ideas. This condition appears in patients with various mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or psychotic depression.

10.  Stendhal Syndrome- This condition gives the patient affected severe physical and emotional anxiety when exposed to art. It has also been called hyperculturemia. 

I hope you found my list interesting. As I was researching, I found it interesting that most of these rare syndromes occur with other mental illnesses such as psychotic depression or schizophrenia. They can often be a clue towards the underlying problem.

Sources:

http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/rare-psych