1. Walking Corpse Syndrome
Walking Corpse Syndrome is a belief held by a person that s/he is actually dead, or doesn’t exist. It can be been linked to depression and to people who are chronically deprived of sleep or suffer drug psychosis, but it is still largely misunderstood. This disorder has also been connected to Capgras Syndrome which is a condition where a person thinks someone in his/her life has been replaced by an imposter.
2. Alice In Wonderland Syndrome
Micropsia (Alice In Wonderland Syndrome) is a visual neurological disease where a patient sees an object much, much smaller than it really is in real life. The object perceived usually seems far away and, in some cases, extremely close at the same time, a car may seem the size of a cat for example. This illness is known to affect children between 5 and 10 and has also been linked to schizophrenia, psychoactive drugs and brain tumors.
3. Self-Cannibalism
Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (or self-cannibalism) is a disorder in which a person exhibits self-mutilating behavior or less commonly the consumption of his/her own body parts in a rare condition called autosarcophagy. In most cases patients have to have their teeth removed to prevent them from biting off their lips, cheeks and tongues. The condition occurs almost only in boys, it has been related to impulse control disorders and can be life threatening.
4. Erotomania
Erotomania takes infatuation to a whole new level. Those who suffer from this disorder hold a delusional belief that a person, usually from a high social status, is madly in love with them and making advances through special glances, signals, telepathy or messages through the media. The sufferer then returns the alleged affection by letters or attempting to visit the unsuspecting recipient. The scariest part of this disorder is that the sufferers feelings are so overwhelming that even when their 'lover' directly denies any sentiment of affection or the advances are clearly unwanted, the person remains unconvinced.
5. Lycanthropy
Sufferers of this psychopathological phenomenon believe they are literally an animal or at least being transformed into one. The condition is often classified as a self-identity disorder subdivided into various types. Boanthropy is a condition in which a person believes themself to be a cow or an ox and may seen down on all fours chewing grass. Scientists think the disorder can originate in a dream before enveloping the entire awakened mind of the individual.
6. Alien Hand Syndrome
Alien hand syndrome is a condition when a person’s arm appears to move uncontrolabily or grab hold of things without the cognitive control of the person to whom the arm belongs. Such a condition can often be traumatic for the sufferer who is terrified that his/her arm might start exhibiting inappropriate behavior in public giving a feeling that one limb is foreign.
7. Aboulomania
8. Synesthesia
Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon that occurs when stimulation of one sense leads to involuntary experiences in another sense, for example taste and sound are joined together. In some cases, a person may mix sound and taste so that different noises have a taste in any combination. The condition isn’t considered a disease or much of an illness because its effects are not negative.
9. Foreign Accent Syndrome
Foreign Accent Syndrome is a very rare disorder characterized by the sudden and unexpected appearance of a foreign accent, which often occurs after some kind of brain injury like a stroke. There have been 50 recorded cases of this syndrome since the '40s and the condition can last a few hours or become permanent.
10. Genital Retraction Syndrome
Genital Retraction Syndrome (or Koro syndrome) is a psychiatric disorder in which a person suffers acute anxiety over a deep-seated fear that his genitals (or breasts in the case of women) are shrinking or retracting into the abdomen until they disappear, in which case he/she will die. The condition is mostly seen in Southeast Asian countries.
11. The Jumping Frenchmen of Maine
This disorder occurs when a person becomes extremely startled by an unexpected noise or sight and begins exhibiting an unusual response such as involuntarily flailing his/her arms, crying out or repeating words or sounds. The exact cause of Jumping Frenchmen is unknown, and was first identified in 1878 in some of Maine’s lumberjacks of French-Canadian descent and is thought to belong to other culturally specific disorders. This odd disorder has been linked to Coprolalia which is a form of Tourette’s.
12. Pica
Pica is a disorder in which people have a compulsion to eat things that have no nutritional value (or non-food substances) that continues for more than one month. The disorder is characterized into subtypes including Coprophagy, consumption of feces; Geophagy, the consumption of soil, clay or dirt; Hyalophagia, the consumption of glass; or Tricophagia, consumption of hair or wool. Pica has been linked to iron or mineral deficiencies or chemical imbalance and is often seen in pregnant women, small children and those with learning difficulties.
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