Some think they are dead, others believe they have two bodies, and still others are sure their loved one is a doppelgänger. Here are the strange symptoms associated with some rare mental ailments. Can it really be attacked by your own hand?
Cotard’s syndrome: ‘I’m already dead’
It’s like being in an episode of The Walking Dead you have ended up. People with Cotard’s syndrome are convinced that they are dead. Or that they are empty inside, so they no longer have brains, blood or intestines.
The French neurologist Jules Cotard was the first to record the syndrome, in 1880. He described patients, one of whom had stopped eating (“already dead”) and another spoke about himself in the third person (after all, he did not exist himself). ). Yet another was sure she had no name, no age and no parents. What is striking is the rock-solid belief of these patients in their own ideas. They are hardly open to comments such as “you can’t be dead while telling this”. That’s why Cotard initially named the syndrome délire des negations: the delusion of denials.
Endless between life and death
The disease is a mystery. Thorough scientific research is made difficult because so few people suffer from it. A total of one hundred cases are known in the medical literature; on average they are 52 years old. They are not cheerful types: nine out of ten patients suffer from depression. Suicide, self-harm or starvation are also no exceptions.
The condition, also called Walking Corpse Syndrome, is difficult to treat, although medicines sometimes work wonders. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the modern version of the electroshock from the 1970s, also sometimes works well.
By the way, not all doctors are convinced that Cotard’s syndrome is a separate disease. Some classify it as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (formerly: manic depression).
In any case, it is one of the most gruesome conditions we know. Some patients even believe that, like a vampire, they are ‘undead’. In other words: that they are damned and therefore have to float endlessly between life and death.
Also read: People who suffer from prosopometamorphopsia see perfectly normal faces as demonic. A new study lets us see through their eyes.
Alien Hand Syndrome: Attacked by your own hand
Imagine you are talking to someone and unnoticed your left hand starts to unbutton your blouse. “What are you doing?” asks the other. You’re shocked – this is quite embarrassing. And how come you didn’t notice anything? You quickly close everything again. But a moment later you can hardly believe your eyes: your left hand starts to unbutton everything again! It happened to an American woman after brain surgery. Sometimes the hand even attacked her and hit her.
These are the typical characteristics of Alien Hand Syndrome, where the body part seems to lead a life of its own. Often it grabs for something within reach, and once it has a bite, it doesn’t let go. Sometimes the ‘faithful’ hand has to forcefully open the other. Many patients feel that the renegade hand is not theirs. They have no control over it whatsoever.
It can be a side effect of dementia, or the result of a stroke or an operation to cut a connection between the two hemispheres of the brain – something that can help against severe forms of epilepsy. After a stroke, the symptoms often disappear within a year, but if dementia is involved, they usually get worse.
Wearing an oven glove can prevent patients from getting hurt. If there really is no land to sail with the hand, he is tied up.
Capgras Syndrome: Evil Doppelgänger
On the wedding day she realized for the first time: her husband was not her husband. His twin brother had taken his place. According to the woman, this was clearly visible in the wedding photos. And it didn’t stop at that one time. One day the twin brother, who was after the woman’s money, even attempted to poison her. Only: the woman didn’t have a penny. She lived on benefits. And: her husband had no twin brother at all.
See here Capgras syndrome, also called double delusion, in all its tragedy. The patients know for sure: one or more family members are doppelgängers. Usually the partner is not real, but parents or children can also be fake.
For some patients – usually women – this is so frustrating and unbearable that it makes them aggressive. They often believe that they are dealing with scammers who have killed or kidnapped their loved ones. A 2020 British study showed that 30 percent of patients sometimes turn to violence, more than once resulting in murder.
This syndrome, named after the French psychiatrist Joseph Capgras, usually occurs due to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, but also often after a stroke or brain surgery, or due to dementia. Fortunately, antipsychotics or anti-anxiety medications offer a solution in many cases
Alice in Wonderland syndrome: ‘Help, I can’t fit in my bedroom anymore’
Goodbye feet!”, Alice shouts, as she watches in amazement as her legs grow longer and longer. Tears run down her cheeks and slowly but surely her feet become so far out of sight that they are almost invisible. This scene is from the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll, in which a girl ends up through a rabbit hole in a fantasy world and experiences a series of absurd adventures. It shrinks, grows and time passes according to its own laws.
But how absurd is that really? There are people who experience themselves and the world this way. British psychiatrist John Todd discovered this in 1955 and coined the term Alice in Wonderland syndrome. Patients see themselves, their limbs or their environment as smaller, bigger, further away or closer than is actually the case. Some even have the idea that they have two bodies, or that they float. Many people feel alienated from themselves or from reality and experience time differently.
It may sound like a freaky disorder that only occurs occasionally, but that remains to be seen. Several studies show that one in twenty teenagers knows the distorted perceptions from their own experience.
Frightening, sure, but not dangerous. The complaints disappear on their own, although that may take years. It is not known how they develop, but many symptoms overlap with those of migraine and epilepsy. Drink or drugs can also play a role.
There are rumors that Lewis Carroll, the alias of Charles Dodgson, was on magic mushrooms. Others think that Dodgson, who suffered from migraine attacks, must have suffered from the syndrome. Otherwise, Alice’s story would hardly be possible to make up.
These and more rare psychological and neurological disorders are also included in KIJK 2/2021.
Text: Maurice Timmermans
Opening image: Paul Mcerlean/Eyeem/Getty Images
Tags: bizarre psychological conditions
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