Bizarre Mental Conditions

This is kind of ineressting.

Normal is a relative measure, but people exhibiting symptoms indicative of the followings conditions, syndromes and disorders will likely stand out in any crowd.
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a form of cognitive bias that renders certain individuals incapable of perceiving their true competency in respects to a certain ability or vocation.
These individuals mistakenly believe themselves to be far better at a given task than they truly are. The bias has been attributed to a metacognitive deficiency that prevents unskilled people from becoming aware of their own shortcomings.
Paradoxically, people with real ability often suffer from low self-esteem, as their insight into the dimensions of a given task or skill allows them to appreciate how much they still have to learn.

Jerusalem Syndrome
Individuals visiting the holy city of Jerusalem are often possesed by thoughts of a religious nature. The great city occupies an important place in several world religions, and its architecture and history is suffused with human conceptions of the almighty.

When these religious thoughts become obsessive, delusional, or psychotic in their dimensions, the person involved may be experienceing Jerusalem syndrome. The syndrome has thus far been experienced almost exclusively by individuals with a history of mental illness.

Exploding Head Syndrome
A form of hypnagogic auditory hallucination, Exploding head syndrome causes the sufferer to ‘hear’ a loud and abrupt noise, seemingly originating from within the cranium itself. The sound is typically likened to a gunshot, an explosion, a screaming voice or an electrical buzzing akin to the sound made by an electric saw.

Making things even harder for sufferers, the noise typically occurs when one is either close to sleeping, or actually asleep. Following an attack, many sufferers report feelings of anxiety or fear, and an elevated heart rate is common. As of now, scientists and doctors are unsure as to what causes the syndrome

Capgras Delusion
Classified as a delusional misidentification syndrome, the Capgras delusion entails the mistaken belief, on the part of the sufferer, that a friend, lover, parent or other close acquaintance has been replaced by an impostor.

The delusion is often experienced by individuals affected by a neurological disorder such as schizophrenia. Injuries to the brain can also result in the appearance of symptoms indicative of the delusion.

William Hirstein and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran have proposed that the delusion occurs as a result of an interruption of the neurological connection between the temporal cortex (which is responsible for facial recognition) and the limbic system (the seat of the emotions).

Freudian theory suggests that an internal conflict, experienced as a result of sexual feelings felt by the sufferer towards one of his/her parents, are resolved by the assumption that the object of desire is not in fact the parent at all.

Fregoli Delusion
The belief that several different people are in fact the same person dressed in different disguises is characteristic of the Fregoli delusion.The condition takes its name from the Italian actor Leopoldo Fregoli, who was renowned for the speed at which he could change his costumes and his appearance on stage.

It was first reported in 1927 by two psychiatrists who discussed the case of a woman who believed that she was being victimised by a pair of actors from her local theatre. The young lady came to believe that the two thespians would take the form of people she knew, or encountered, in order to persecute her still further.

Body Integrity Identity Disorder
People suffering from Body integrity Identity Disorder are convinced that they would feel happier, and more complete, if they could amputate one or more of their limbs. Despite being related, it should not be confused with apotemnophillia, or sexual arousal stemming from the idea of one’s self as an amputee.

One theory as to the origin of the disorder describes it as resulting from a dysfunctional brain mapping function, whereby the brain fails to include the affected limb in its conception of the body.

Although it sounds extremely bizarre to the average human being, the disorder affects otherwise entirely sane people, who sometimes even go as far as injuring their own limbs so as to force their amputation.

Diogenes Syndrome
Diogenes syndrome takes its name from the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes, who made his home in an empty wine barrel and put forward a philosophy of extreme nihilism. The story goes that when the slumbering Diogenes was asked by Alexander the Great what it was he most desired from the world, the grumpy philosopher responded: “For you to stop blocking my sunshine!”

People suffering from Diogenes syndrome show symptoms of extreme self-neglect, social isolation and compulsive hoarding – often of animals. It is mostly experienced by elderly people, and has been strongly associated with the onset of senility.

It’s interesting to note that the name is actually somewhat unfair on poor old Diogenes, who was, though undoubtedly reclusive, never described in historical accounts as being neglectful of his personal hygiene.

Cotard’s Syndrome
Individuals suffering the Cotard delusion (also known as the Walking Corpse Syndrome) maintain an irrational suspicion that they are in fact already dead, do not exist or are in the process of decomposing. Other strange beliefs associated with the condition include the conviction that one has been drained of blood, or that one’s internal organs have been extracted. In a few cases, the sufferer comes to believe that they have attained immortality.

The syndrome was first described in 1880 by the French neurologist Jules Cotard, who called it le délire de négation ('negation delirium'). Those experiencing a mild case of the condition report feelings of despair and self-loathing, while severe cases are characterised by chronic depression and vivid delusional states.

Cotard described the case of one woman, who he called Mademoiselle X, who was convinced that certain parts of her body were not actually existent. She also denied that there was any reason for her to eat. She later came to assume that she was suffering eternal damnation and would not be able to die a natural death. Sadly for Mademoiselle X, her mistaken beliefs led to her eventual death by starvation.

Folie à deux
Folie a deux (from the French for “madness experienced by two”) is a form of shared psychosis in which two people experience the same or similar delusions. Should the shared psychosis involve more than two people, it will be classified accordingly. Thus we have folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie en famille or even folie à plusieurs ('madness of many').

In one case, detailed in Enoch and Ball's 'Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes', a couple in their thirties experienced similar persecutory delusions. Both of them had come to believe that a third party was entering their house covertly and spreading debris on the floor and furniture. They were also under the impression that this mysterious intruder was “wearing down their shoes.”

Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Classified as a somatoform disorder, Body Dysmorphic disorder involves an excessive pre-occupation with appearance. Sufferers obsess about what they perceive to be a specific physical defect or find themselves overwhelmed by the belief that they are generally unattractive. The disorder often gives rise to feelings of depression and anxiety, and sufferers are often unwilling to leave their homes.

The disorder usually results form a combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors, with the onset typically in adolescence or early adulthood. Sadly, between 1 and 2 per cent of the world’s population meet the dignostic criteria for Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Depersonalisation
An anomaly of self-perception, depersonalization consists of the sense that the individual exists outside of their physical self, engaged in the act of witnessing their own behavior and emotions from a third-person perspective. The sufferer feels they have no power over their actions; the world is experienced as indefinite, illusory and lacking in substance.

In some cases, the subject reports experiencing life as a “dream”. Classified as a dissociative disorder, chronic depersonalisation is often the result of a severely traumatic incident or protracted feelings of anxiety. Interestingly, the experience is often the desired outcome of people ingesting certain recreational drugs, such as marijuana or other hallucinogens.

Stockholm Syndrome
Stockholm syndrome involves feelings of sympathy or even loyalty on the part of the victims of kidnapping towards their abductors. It takes its name from an incident in Stockholm, Sweden, in which hostages taken in the course of a bank robbery felt compelled to defend their kidnappers after they had been freed (even refusing to testify against them in court). One of the victims even went on to marry a member of the gang involved, after he had been found guilty and sentenced for the crime. The syndrome is also often referenced in cases of spousal abuse, rape and child molestation.

Perhaps the most famous example of Stockholm syndrome is the case of Patty Hearst (pictured above), the grand-daughter of millionaire Press baron William Randolph Hearst. Kidnapped in 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army, she developed so great a bond with her captors that she would ultimately join them in robbing a bank in San Francisco. Hearst later claimed that her former loyalty to the organisation had been the result of a concerted brainwashing program.

Paris Syndrome
Paris Syndrome is brought about by the disconnect between the expectations of visitors to the French capital, and the reality they encounter upon arrival. It is experienced for the most part by Japanese tourists, with about 12 of the millions who visit Paris every year showing symptoms of the syndrome. These symptoms include delusional states, persecution complexes, anxiety, dizziness, tachycardia and excessive sweating.

Psychologists speculate that the syndrome results from an extreme form of ‘culture shock’, wherein the often congested and modern metropolis fails to conform with the idyllic expectations that tourists have of the city, encouraged as they are by a media obsessed with the notion of Paris as the ever romantic “City of Light”.

Stendhal Syndrome
In his book, 'Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio', the 19^th Century French author Marie-Henri Beyle (better known as Stendhal [pictured above]) described a peculiar phenomenon he experienced while touring through Italy in 1817.

Confronted by the surfeit of high art in the country, he found himself struck by a range of discomforting symptoms, including a quickened pulse, disorientation, confusion and even a loss of vitality.

“As I emerged from the porch of Santa Croce, I was seized with a fierce palpitation of the heart (that same symptom which, in Berlin, is referred to as an attack of the nerves); the well-spring of life was dried up within me, and I walked in constant fear of falling to the ground.”

Today, individuals experiencing these and similar symptoms during or after the experience of high art on a grand scale, are said to be suffering from Stendhal Syndrome. The term sometimes also refers to a similar reaction when confronted by an excess of choice in different circumstances.

A similar, but more specific condition, termed Lisztomania by the poet Heinriche Heine, described the delirious frenzy entered into by some fans upon witnessing a live recital by the famous pianist and composer Franz Liszt.

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