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7 bizarre mental disorders you don’t know exist

TNN | Last updated on - Nov 29, 2016, 17:17 IST
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1/8

7 bizarre mental disorders you don’t know exist

We all live in a perpetual belief: ‘My life is pathetic ‘. But do you know there are people who cannot even decide if they are dead or alive? Or even worse, they cannot even decide to decide? There are such rare psychological diseases that are bizarre, uncommon, and hard to accept. They can make you feel that your genitals are shrinking or can convince you that your best friend has been replaced with an imposter.
Read the following and you will end up with a sense of gratitude as your life is only pathetic and nothing worse.
2/8

Walking Corpse Syndrome

Imagine feeling that you are dead already, your body is rotting, internal organs are out of order, and you are ceasing to exist. That is how putrefying it feels like to the patients of Walking Corpse Disorder. Though majority of the patients experience a lack of existence of their selves, there is a flip side to it – some feign immortality. It was discovered by neurologist Jules Cotard who described it as ‘The Delirium of Negation’. The situation begins with self-hatred and can become as strong as experiencing severe delusions and chronic depression.
Year of discovery: 1880
3/8

Erotomania

Have you watched ‘He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not’? Here we are dealing with a condition that Audrey Tautou had in the movie – Erotomania. This is a delusional disorder in which the patient thinks that someone, usually from a higher status, is in love with them. They feel this through special signals, glances, and even telepathy. The delusion is so strong that even if the delusional lover comes and denies any feeling, the patient would still be unconvinced and think it to be an attempt at hiding his love from the world.
Year of discovery: 1921
4/8

Capgras Syndrome

Imagine feeling like Leonardo Di Caprio of Inception only without a totem to tell you if you are living in a real or unreal world. Capgras is a mental condition in which you feel that a close friend, spouse, family member or a pet has been replaced by an identical imposter. People suffering from this disorder feel that their reality has become warped or substituted. It occurs more commonly in females than males and can be caused due to age, brain injury, migraine and in one odd case, it was caused due to the drug ketamine.
Year of discovery: 1923
5/8

Alien Hand Syndrome

A South Park fan? If so, you can visualize this syndrome in Eric Cartman who suffers from Alien Hand Syndrome in the episode titled “Fat Butt and Pancake Head”. This one is about your hand getting alienated from your body. In this neurological disorder, a discrepancy develops between one’s intentions and his actions. The afflicted person’s hand movement goes out of his control and can do things and reach out to objects without him wanting to do so. It is caused by damaged signals between the left and right part of the brain.
Year of discovery: 1908
6/8

Aboulomania

Maybe this is the name of the medical condition that defines the Hamletian Prufrock of T.S Eliot. The vital question – To be or not to be? – is the beginning and premise of this disease. People suffering from Aboulomania suffer from a deranged willpower such that their everyday tasks become the deciding questions of their lives. To stay at home or go for a walk, to order Mexican food or Italian food, to call or text someone – these are questions they cannot answer without an eternity of dilemmas. This pathological indecisiveness is often associated with stress, anxiety, depression and anguish.
Year of discovery: Not known
7/8

Synesthesia

This disorder is what it feels like to be on a perpetual drug trip. A hippy disorder, Synesthesia can make the person confuse a sensory stimulation with another sense. This kind of confusion between senses can make people associate sounds with colors, tastes with sounds, smells with visions or all of them together resulting in what is often called “union of the senses”.
Year of discovery: 1812 but references in Greek antiquity where philosophers asked if they could quantify the color of music.
8/8

Koro syndrome

Also known as Shrinking Penis or Genital Retraction Syndrome, it is a delusional disorder in which a person feels that his genitals are retracting into the abdomen, may disappear one day and will kill him, all this without any physical proofs for the retraction. This disorder has struck people in masses and has a history of epidemic spreads in China, Southeast Asia, Africa, U.S, and Europe.
Year of discovery: Not known

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the Doctors are their independent professional judgment and we do not take any responsibility for the accuracy of their views. This should not be considered as a substitute for Physician's advice. Please consult your treating Physician for more details.

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