The human mind is extremely complex, but despite it's complexity, psychiatrists have managed to bring into light certain unusual, weird and temporary psychological illnesses that people may not be aware of. I will be writing on these rare psychological disorders subsequently in my blog.
One of the psychological disorders I will be discussing today is called TODD'S SYNDROME popularly known as Alice in wonderland.
1.ALICE IN WONDERLAND SYNDROME (AWS)
Alice in wonderland syndrome can be seen as a rare condition that causes distortion and disruption in visual perception.
Alice in wonderland is also known as todd's syndrome because it was first discovered by a British psychiatrists named Dr. John Todd in the 1950s. AWS was actually coined from a novel written by Lewis carroll, titled "Alice's adventures in wonderland" because the symptoms of the disorder depict the experiences of the character of the novel, Alice liddell. It is also known as lilliputian hallucinations because some believe that AWS have episodes of seizures, hallucinations and time loss.
SYMPTOMS OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND SYNDROME
Alice in wonderland syndrome is a rare syndrome that affects multiple senses such as sense of hearing, sense of touching, sense of vision and even sense of time. Affected victims experience different symptoms. What one experience may be different from the others and it also vary from one symptom to the others. These symptoms can last up to thirty minutes.
SENSE OF TIME (Time distortion)
victims of AWS usually loose their sense of time. Is either they feel time is moving faster than it really is or time is moving slower that it is.SENSE OF HEARING (Sound distortion)
victims of AWS usually have distortion in sense of hearing because every sound including low sounds seem loud and intrusive to them.SENSE OF TOUCH (movement distortion)
People with AWS syndrome usually Loss total control of coordination and limb control. This symptoms includes inability to control muscles which can alter sense of touch and difficulty in moving about.SENSE OF VISION (perception distortion)
This symptom is sub divided into pelopsia, micropsia, teleopsia, macropsia and metamorphopsia.
i. pelopsia; this is a situation in which the victims feel that objects close to them are getting larger or getting closer than they really are.
ii. micropsia; this is when the victims feel that their body or objects appear smaller than they really are.
iii. metarmorphopsia; this is a situation in which straight lines appear bent, wavy in the victims perception.
iv. Teleopsia; this is the opposite of pelopsia. Is a situation in which the victims perceive objects are far away than they really are.
v. Macropsia; this is the opposite of micropsia. In this situation, the victims perceive that their body or objects appear larger than they really are.
It is important that we know that AWS is not a problem with the eyes (vision), or a neurological illness or hallucinations. It has to do with unusual electrical activities in the brain.
CAUSES OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND SYNDROME
- BRAIN TUMOR
- BRAIN INFECTION
- MIGRAINES
- EPILEPSY
- GENETICS
- STRESS
Migraine is the major cause of AWS in adult while infection is the primary cause of AWS in infants.
TREATMENT OF ALICE IN WONDERLAND SYNDROME
Researchers are yet to discover treatment for Alice in wonderland syndrome. If you or any of your family member experiences this syndrome, the best way to handle it is to reassure yourself or the family member that the syndrome is not harmful and the symptom would go as it came because AWS rarely lead to problems or complications. It's just like a phase and it often gets better over time.
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