5 of the strangest (and scary) mental disorders

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We are publishing a list of the five most unusual mental disorders that prove that strange things happen to people not only in the movies, and that the fantasies of writers and directors are often inspired by real stories.

Our brain is a huge universe that scientists will study for decades to come. But its power is undeniable. Take, for example, how the nervous system distorts the perception of the world and forces a person to act during mental disorders.

We decided to briefly talk about five of the strangest, most interesting and slightly frightening disorders.

Cotard's syndrome

One of the striking characteristics of this syndrome is delusions of grandeur turned inside out: a person believes that he or certain parts and organs of his body have already died, rotted, decomposed, or are simply missing.

Still from the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales"

A person with Cotard's syndrome is often convinced that he is causing catastrophic harm to humanity: that he has infected everyone with a terrible infection, poisoned or completely wiped out humanity from the face of the earth, that because of his putrefactive breath the planet will soon die out.

Reminds me of some of the characters from Pirates of the Caribbean, doesn't it?

Munchausen syndrome

Named after a famous liar, this syndrome is characterized by pathological lying about one's health. A person exaggerates, feigns, or deliberately causes symptoms of illness.

A person goes to great lengths to achieve medical procedures of varying complexity, including surgical interventions, insurance payments, foundation support and - most importantly - support, sympathy, attention and help from others. A related disorder, Munchausen syndrome by proxy, involves a relative (usually a mother or spouse) causing symptoms of the disease in a loved one (usually a child).

Still from the documentary Mommy Dead Dearest

An example of the full scale and tragedy of this disorder is last year’s story of Dee Dee Blanchard and her daughter Gypsy: her mother spent her entire life instilling in her child that she was seriously ill with a whole “bouquet” of serious diseases - from epilepsy to muscular dystrophy. The grown-up daughter could not stand it and persuaded the young man to kill his mother. Now she is under investigation - and she does not have a single symptom of any of the diseases that she “suffered from.”

Beyond acceptable limits

Shopping mania is a fairly common disorder. The largest number of shopaholics live in America. There are approximately 15 million of them here. Another 55 million are about to cross the line and end up on the same side.

In England, the number of shopaholics is 700 thousand people. More than 50% of English women admitted that shopping gives them more pleasure than sex.

Over the past 10 years in Russia, the number of oniomaniacs has increased by 30%. Currently, up to 7% of Russians suffer from the disorder.

Scientists have found that such a pastime as shopping causes a number of processes. It is thanks to them that shopping is so captivating for addicted people:

The very act of spending money and purchasing a new product causes a surge in the neurotransmitter serotonin. The latter is nicknamed the hormone of happiness, because it gives rise to a feeling of pleasure and helps relieve negative emotions;
shopping is a powerful distraction. That is, display cases with numerous products allow you to forget for a while about the problems and difficulties that exist in life.

Based on the listed properties of shopping, we can identify the first cause of oniomania. This is stress, no matter for what reason, as well as an anxious, depressive state.

Other reasons include:

feeling of loneliness, dissatisfaction;
lack of attention;
Among women, the main cause of the disorder is the breakdown of relationships with a partner. In this case, shopping mania replaces the need for love thanks to the same serotonin;
thirst for recognition. Some shopaholics go to stores not for the sake of purchasing this or that item. They pursue another goal: to feel the helpfulness and ingratiation of sellers. Hear praise and compliments;
pronounced shopaholics seek a surge of adrenaline to experience a feeling of euphoria. Such people visit particularly “dangerous” places. Usually these are discount days, when crowds pour into the store and maniacs organize real massacres for goods.

Advertising plays a special role in the formation of the disorder. It is one of the ways to manipulate human consciousness. The best strategists, image makers, designers, and psychologists work in the advertising field. Their task is to present the product in such a way that a person becomes eager to purchase it. Therefore, advertising can rightfully be considered one of the causes of oniomania.

You should learn to perceive a commercial only as a source of information, but not as an instruction to action.

Ganser syndrome

This syndrome is reminiscent of Munchausen syndrome, since a person’s internal anxiety is transformed into demonstrative, defiant, inappropriate behavior that is directed at others. Another name for it is hysterical psychosis. It was first described by the German psychiatrist Ganser in a person who was under investigation. The disorder is still more common when something threatens a person’s social status—for example, a trial. But this could be mobilization into the active army, or even a sudden break in relations.

With this syndrome, a person behaves like a child - sits on the floor, “plays” with surrounding objects. Answers simple questions incorrectly (for example, confuses left and right), cannot get dressed, forgets how to eat. What’s strange is that a person understands speech addressed to him, but says or does everything as if “by.”

Sometimes it gets to the point of “running wild” - a person gets on all fours, laps up water from a bowl, barks, howls and tries to bite people around him.

After an attack, a person does not remember what happened to him. This syndrome is incredibly rare. It is almost never mentioned in movies or feature films. On the other hand, maybe we just have a bad idea of what happens to a person facing prison.

Causes of dysposophobia

Dyspophobia is the fear of parting with things. Plyushkin syndrome, as well as its causes, continue to be studied. So far, psychologists have identified the following reasons for the development of dyspozophobia (syllogomania):

Individual characteristics. Greed and frugality can lead to hoarding. Other people do not know how to part with things due to their vulnerability and sentimentality (they rarely bring junk home, but cannot get rid of old things because they value them as memories).
Maladjustment and unconscious isolation. People who have not found their place in the world try to isolate themselves from society with the help of garbage. Mountains of garbage and an unpleasant smell are repulsive; a person is left alone with himself and his illness.
Personal psychotrauma. People who have had to live in conditions of poverty, hunger or shortages are more prone to hoarding than others.
Heredity. But this is not about genetics, but about the example of parents. If from an early age a child observes his parents’ hoarding, then he learns this model of behavior as the norm.
Difficult childhood. Children who lack love, attention, and gifts from their parents fall into the risk group for hoarding as adults. They are trying to fill the gap, to give themselves what their parents did not give.
Psychotrauma, tragedy. Depression and severe stress can trigger hoarding behavior. For example, a patient may keep things that remind him of a deceased or departed person.
Loneliness. Some people think that things will replace their friends, real communication.
Organic disorders, pathologies. Hoarding can be a consequence of traumatic brain injury, diseases of the brain and nervous system, surgery or oncology.
Mental disorders and mental disorders due to alcoholism and other bad habits.
Senile age. Older people are more likely to suffer from hoarding syndrome; the disease is combined with senile dementia.

This is interesting! The disease got its name by association with the main character of the novel “Dead Souls”. Plyushkin suffered from collecting syndrome. He constantly brought home trash and could not part with anything; it seemed to him that all this would be useful in the future.

Fregoli syndrome

This syndrome is named after the actor Leopold Fregoli, who knew how to masterfully change his appearance. A person with this unusual mental disorder is convinced that his acquaintance (usually a persecutor, enemy, ill-wisher) is hiding in other people - he simply wants to remain unrecognized. Therefore, he constantly changes his appearance and puts on makeup.

Still from the film "The Matrix: Revolution"

This syndrome is a type of Capgras syndrome, in which everything is the other way around - a person is sure that his loved one, for example, his wife or child, was replaced by a double who skillfully faked his appearance and manners. This syndrome was well captured in the (scary) movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

SIGNS OF MENTAL DISORDERS (WHEN TO CONSULT A DOCTOR)

The signs of mental disorders, as well as the frequency of their occurrence, have been a common issue of concern to the population in recent years. This is especially true due to the fact that the pace of life is steadily growing, while the resources of the human nervous system remain at the same level. Very often, mental disorders develop gradually, step by step, introducing features into the human psyche that were previously not characteristic of him; accordingly, there is a good chance of noticing them in time and providing proper medical care.

According to the latest data, mental disorders are detected in 25-30% of the population, that is, in every fourth person in the world. However, it is noteworthy that 75-80% suffer from non-psychotic, mild mental disorders. Serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia occur in 6-17% of cases. Alcoholism - 60%.

It must be remembered that a mental disorder is not a death sentence, since with sufficient and timely treatment from a specialist, as well as a responsible attitude and attentiveness to one’s condition, the symptoms of mental disorders can be stopped (and often the disorder itself can be completely cured), which will help maintain the same social, professional status and level of quality of life.

SIGNS

Asthenic syndrome.

This condition can accompany any mental disorder and many somatic diseases. Asthenia is expressed in weakness, low performance, mood swings, and increased sensitivity. A person begins to cry easily, becomes instantly irritated and loses self-control. Asthenia is often accompanied by sleep disturbances, a feeling of weakness, increased fatigue, and an inability to cope with the previously habitual workload or study.

Obsessive states.

The wide range of obsessions includes many manifestations: from constant doubts, unpleasant thoughts “stuck, spinning in the head,” fears that a person is not able to cope with, to an irresistible desire for cleanliness or performing certain, unusual actions. Under the power of an obsessive state, a person may return home several times to check whether he has turned off the iron, gas, water, or whether he has locked the door. An obsessive fear of an accident may force the patient to perform certain rituals, which, according to the sufferer, can ward off trouble. If you notice that your friend or relative washes their hands for hours, has become overly squeamish and is always afraid of getting infected with something, this is also an obsession. The desire to avoid stepping on cracks in asphalt, tile joints, avoiding certain types of transport or people wearing clothes of a certain color or type is also an obsessive state.

Mood changes.

It is especially important to pay attention not so much to short-term changes under the influence of momentary factors, but rather to changes in mood that were previously not characteristic of a person, long-term, from 2 weeks or more.

Melancholy, depression, desire for self-recrimination, talk about one’s own worthlessness, sinfulness, death, lack of future, hope for the best, etc.
Unnatural frivolity, carelessness.
Foolishness, not typical of age and character.
A euphoric state, optimism that has no basis.
Apathy, a painful feeling of lack of emotions.
Fussiness, talkativeness, inability to concentrate, chaotic thinking.
Irritability, anger, aggressiveness
Inability to contain emotions, tearfulness, slight breakdowns in shouting in conversation
Increased sexuality, extinction of natural shyness, inability to restrain sexual desires or, conversely, loss of libido, lack of morning erection in men

Unusual sensations in the body.

Tingling, burning sensations in the skin, burning sensations, “twisting” pressure in the body, moving “something inside”, “rustling in the head”, the presence of foreign objects in the body - can signal disorders in the nervous system.

Hypochondria.

It is expressed in an obsessive, obsessive search for serious diseases and disorders, a painful “listening” to the slightest changes in the state of one’s body. At the same time, the patient often does not trust doctors, demands repeated and more in-depth studies, is completely concentrated on searching for serious illnesses, and demands to be treated as a patient.

Appetite disorders.

It is important to pay attention to both a sudden increase in appetite—“ravenous appetite”—and its sharp decrease and distortion of taste preferences. The reason may be either a disease of the gastrointestinal tract, or a general depression of the state, or a morbid conviction of excessive fatness in the absence of it. It is also important if previously tasty food has lost its taste, has become bland, tasteless, “like cardboard.”

Illusions

There is no need to confuse illusions and hallucinations. Illusions force a person to perceive real objects and phenomena in a distorted form, while with hallucinations a person perceives something that does not really exist.

Examples of illusions:

the pattern on the wallpaper seems to be a tangle of snakes or worms;
the size of objects is perceived in a distorted form;
the patter of raindrops on the windowsill seems like the careful steps of someone scary;
the shadows of the trees turn into terrible creatures creeping up with frightening intentions, etc.

Hallucinations

If outsiders may not be aware of the presence of illusions, then the susceptibility to hallucinations may manifest itself more noticeably. Hallucinations can affect all senses, that is, be visual and auditory, tactile and gustatory, olfactory and general, and also be combined in any combination. To the patient, everything he sees, hears and feels seems completely real. He may not believe that those around him do not feel, hear, or see all this. He may perceive their bewilderment as a conspiracy, deception, mockery, and become annoyed that he is not understood.

With auditory hallucinations, a person hears various kinds of noise, fragments of words or coherent phrases. “Voices” can give commands or comment on the patient’s every action, laugh at him or discuss his thoughts.
Gustatory and olfactory hallucinations often cause the sensation of an unpleasant property: a disgusting taste or smell.
With tactile hallucinations, the patient thinks that someone is biting, touching, strangling him, that insects are crawling on him, that some creatures are inserting themselves into his body and moving there or eating the body from the inside.
Externally, susceptibility to hallucinations is expressed in conversations with an invisible interlocutor, sudden laughter or constant intense listening to something. The patient may constantly shake something off himself, scream, look around himself with a worried look, or ask others if they see something on his body or in the surrounding space.

Changes in thinking

Previously, the overestimation of one’s own capabilities or abilities, the conviction of one’s own exclusivity, a passion for esotericism, magic, and a sudden belief in the supernatural were not typical. The pace of thoughts in your head can also change, either becoming uncomfortably slow or so fast that it is sometimes very difficult to concentrate on one thought.

Crazy thoughts.

Delusional states often accompany psychosis. Delusion is based on erroneous judgments, and the patient stubbornly maintains his false belief, even if there are obvious contradictions with reality. Delusional ideas acquire significance that determines all behavior. Delusional disorders can be expressed in erotic form, or in conviction of one's great mission, in descent from a noble family or aliens. The patient may feel that someone is trying to kill or poison him, rob or kidnap him. Sometimes the development of a delusional state is preceded by a feeling of unreality of the surrounding world or one’s own personality.

Desocialization.

There are people who are unsociable and unsociable due to their character. This is normal and should not raise suspicions of mental disorders. But if a born cheerful person, the life of the party, a family man and a good friend suddenly begins to destroy social ties, becomes unsociable, shows coldness towards those who were recently dear to him - this is a reason to worry about his mental health. A person becomes sloppy, stops taking care of himself, may quit his job without a good reason, abandon his career, previous goals and interests, and in society may begin to behave shockingly - commit acts that are considered indecent and unacceptable.

Hoarding or excessive generosity

Yes, any collector can be under suspicion. Especially in cases where collecting becomes an obsession and subjugates a person’s entire life. This can be expressed in the desire to drag things found in garbage dumps into the house, hoard food without paying attention to expiration dates, or pick up stray animals in quantities that exceed the ability to provide them with normal care and proper maintenance.

The desire to give away all your property and excessive spending can also be regarded as a suspicious symptom. Especially in the case when a person has not previously been distinguished by generosity or altruism. Particular attention should be paid to this condition, especially when a person suddenly begins to actively visit banks and apply for loans.