Experts say that 1 in 4 people on earth have a mental or behavioral disorder that they suffer from. It’s almost like having some abnormality of the mind is almost… normal. Yes, our brains are capable of some amazing things, but if they are also capable of some pretty weird things. Here are some mysterious mental conditions that humans can have:
Adele Syndrome
A person with Adele Syndrome has a pathological obsession with experiencing love affection. It may seem harmless enough but doctors have recently identified it as a mental illness that seriously threatens a person’s health and lifestyle. They even compare it to the likes of gambling, alcoholism, and kleptomania!
Symptoms of Adele Syndrome mirror those of deep depression but can be much more devastating. These can include self-harassment, self-deception, misleading thoughts, intentional self-sacrifice, disregarding the advice of loved ones, reckless behavior, and loss of interest in other topics and activities.
The disorder is named after a young woman of the same name whose life story and battle are depicted in the movie The Story of Adele H.
Quasimodo Syndrome
More often referred to as body dysmorphic disorder, Quasimodo syndrome is a mental disorder where the person obsessively and negatively thinks about their body. You may think that pretty much every person on the planet has body dysmorphia, but those with Quasimodo syndrome highly exaggerate a small physical defect or even one that is imaginary to the point that it becomes debilitating.
They constantly fixate on it, refuse to be photographed, or try to find an angle in which the supposed defect isn’t visible. They also take immense care of their appearance, even after which they aren’t satisfied. This causes lots of problems in their personal and social lives, as well as self-confidence issues.
Capgras Delusion
A patient with Capgras Delusion has the belief that someone close to them, or they themselves, have been replaced with a doppelganger or someone who looks exactly like them. They often claim that bad acts that they’ve committed were actually done by the doppelganger. Unsurprisingly, this disorder is often seen in patients with schizophrenia.
Fregoli Delusion
To the complete opposite of Capgras Delusion, patients diagnosed with Fregoli Delusion tend to think that strangers who they come across are actually their loved ones or people they know who are hiding underneath a different appearance. They believe that people close to them constantly change their faces for the purpose of pursuit.
The first reported instance of this disorder was in 1927 when a young girl believed she was being followed by two actors from a theater she used to visit, taking the appearance of people she knew and didn’t.
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
Just like everything seems to be too big or too small to Alice in Wonderland, a person with this syndrome perceives objects to be smaller or larger than they are. They may also think of things far away to be much closer even though they realize they’re not in some bizarre way.
In extreme cases, a patient with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome may not observe their own body properly, not understanding its shape or dimensions. Here, there is nothing wrong with their physical body or organs – it’s just that their mental state is unable to comprehend it.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD is probably a term that you’ve heard being thrown left and right (you might have even said it to describe yourself because you like a clean home or something), but patients who truly suffer from the obsessive-compulsive disorder have fanatical anxiety over things and thoughts that seem impossible to resist or get rid of.
They are forced by their own mind to perform “rituals” or special actions that they cannot control. Oftentimes, the person understands the absurdity of their actions, but not going through with them brings unsurmountable anxiety which leads to them eventually doing it. This can severely hinder their lifestyle and relationships, not to mention lead to other mental illnesses like depression.
Erotomania
A person with erotomania is someone who is convinced that someone else is in love with them. Typically, their fixation happens to be with a person who is of a much higher social status than them, such as a celebrity.
They believe that their admirers send them messages of love and admiration through secret signals, telepathy, and coded messages in the media. Even if the supposed admirer rejects them to their face, an erotomaniac would not believe them; instead, thinking of it as part of some secret strategy to hide their relationship from the public. This makes erotomania one of the hardest disorders to fight.
Persecutory Delusions
A person with persecutory delusions is unable to comprehend the state of reality. They believe that someone is trying to hurt them or a loved one in some way. They may think that groups of people are out to harm them or even that the government is targeting them. This includes being stalked or spied on, drugged, kidnapped, or murdered!
While most of their beliefs are bizarre and improbable, they are convinced that the threat is true. So much so that they may even make reports to law enforcement about these supposed threats. Some patients with persecutory delusions believe their partner is cheating on them or that someone is framing or slandering them. These types of delusion are often associated with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
Multiple Personality Disorder
MPD, also known as dissociative identity disorder, is a disorder that is often depicted in popular fiction because it is one of the most fascinating phenomena known to man. A person with MPD has several different personalities living in their body. These individual personalities can have different genders, ages, nationalities, temperaments, opinions, IQs, and even illnesses!
Dissociative identity disorder is believed to form in childhood due to severe physical or emotional trauma that a person may face. A child develops different personalities to shield themselves from such trauma, perceiving it as happening to someone else.
One of the most bizarre instances of multiple personality disorder was seen in rapist Billy Mulligan who was arrested in the late 1970s. Experts found some 24 different personalities to be living in his head! Daniel Keyes’s book about him and the disorder is a fantastic read!
Cryptomnesia
This is a memory impairment disorder that makes the person forget when a particular incident took place, or even whether it was a dream or reality. For instance, if they walked through a park or just watched someone else do it on TV. To put it simply, they cannot remember the source of the information or whether the action belongs to them or another person.
You’ve probably heard of “déjà vu” or even experienced it at some time, but did you know that there was an opposite phenomenon called “jamais vu”? This is when a well-known person or place suddenly becomes completely unknown as if you are seeing them/it for the first time. A constant barrage of jamais vu is what people with cryptomnesia experience on a daily basis.
