Five Strangest Mental Disorders

strangest o MENTAL DISORDERS Mental Disorder: a mental or bodily condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological functioning of the individual. An estimated in 5 Americans have a mental disorder ages 18-25 Women are more likely to be diagnosed than men age 50+ 23% A 17% Mental illness is more than 2x as likely in ages than in adults 50+ of women of men 18-25 In 2011 about II.4 million cdult Americans suffered erious mental illness is defined by moderate - extreme impairment of 1-4 of the following: from serious mental illness Feeling/Mood Thinking Family 8.7 million- admitted to thoughts of suicide Role performance Z million Self Care/Basic needs made suicide plans I million attempted suicide 5 OF THE STRANGEST MENTAL ILLNESSES O Cotard's Syndrome aka “Walking Corpse Syndrome" | Cotard's has been reported in patients with mood disorders, psychotic disorders and/or medical conditions A mental disorder causing the sufferer to think: O They are dead O All of their blood and organs have been removed First described by Dr. O Their soul has been removed Jules Cotard in 1882 Cotard's signifies a disconnect between two areas of the brain The area that recognizes faces The area that is able to associate emotions with facial recognition Treatment Most Cotard's cases are more responsive to ECT (electroconvulsive treatment) than to medication Sufferers may not recognize their own face @ Synesthesia Parts of the brain An anomalous blending of the senses: stimulation of one modality simultaneously causes sensation in a different modality Temporal Lobe Fusiform Gyrus Region Synesthetic sensations are highly consistent This differentiates them from drug-induced hallucinations Synesthetes hear colors, feel sounds and taste shapes Examples of consistencies for many synesthetes: Because digits, letters and syllables take on unique colors, Synesthetes often have unusually good memory for phone numbers, security codes and anatomical terminology They may make computational errors because 6 and 8 have the same color The note F is often a reddish shade of rust A 3 is usually pink truck The word truck is usually blue women 3X as many US women men as men have Synesthesia women Part of the brain - men 8X as many women as men in the UK (unknown reason) Limbic System O Windigo Psychosis A disorder involving an insatiable craving for human flesh, coupled with the fear of becoming a cannibal Research suggests Windigo Psychosis occurs due to: Environment Northeastern Canadian woodlands Windigo Psychosis is a cultural phenomenon of the Algonquians of Northern Canada Extremely cold winters Cultural conditions Cultural fear of the Wendigo (a cannibalistic monster who takes possession of humans) Cultural fear of cannibalism Parts of the brain (most likely) Diet and nutrition People suffer from Windigo Psychosis during periods of famine Frontal Lobe Consumption of humans can result in Kuru (the human equivalent of Mad Cow disease) Temporal Lobe O Capgras Syndrome A rare delusion in which a person falsely believes their loved one has been replaced by a duplicate impostor Named after French psychiatrist, Joseph Capgras He first described the disorder in 1929 Capgras is an unusual form of displacement: The sufferer rejects a loved when when negative feelings arise They cannot allow themselves to be conscious of their rejection The negative feelings are passed to a double an impostor who can be safely rejected Parts of the brain Fusiform Gyrus Region Temporal Lobe Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS) A neurological disorder in which one hand functions involuntarily with the victim completely unaware its actions Symptoms include O involuntary reaching or grasping O touching the face O tearing at clothing More extreme cases include O involuntarily stuffing food into the mouth O preventing the normal hand from completing tasks O self inflicted punching or choking Parts of the brain AHS was first identified in 1909 Frontal Lobe L There have only been 40-50 cases reported since then Corpus Callosum Sources: Presented by psychdegrees.org http://www.brainwaves.com/brain_basics.html http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html http://www.odmhsas.org/eda/advancedquery/smi.htm http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/mental%20disorder http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id%3Dwhat-is-synesthesia "The Cree Witiko Psychosis", Primitive Man 1933 Author: John M. Cooper http://www.psychology-101.com/2012/04/13-strange-mental-conditions.html http://science.discovery.com/life-earth-science/10-little-known-mental-disorders.htm http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/alien-hand3.htm http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-w-berman-md/capgras-syndrome_b_888854.html http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/01/19/1-in-5-americans-suffer-from-mental-illness/ http://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-you-always-wondered-about-cannibalism-2012-5?op=1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/facial-recognition-brain-fusiform-gyrus_n_2010192.html DEVELOPED BY N NOWSOURCING