Do not forget: often, only by studying a broken thing, you can understand how it should work ideally. It was psychiatry that at one time created the basis on which modern sciences of thinking in general, such as neurobiology, neurophysiology, evolutionary psychology, etc., developed.
And so, for purely educational purposes, and not to scare our audience with all sorts of horrors, we have collected 2 case histories describing cases of rare and very interesting syndromes. And to get even more pleasure visit https://vave.com/casino .
Frozen Horror
Autism, which, with the light hand of the authors of “Rain Man”, the general public now often associated with genius, is a disease that has not yet been sufficiently studied. Many scientists believe that it is more appropriate to talk about a group of different pathologies with common signs.
For example, it is known that some autistic people are practically incapable of aggression; others, on the contrary, suffer severe and prolonged bouts of uncontrolled anger directed at others; others, experiencing anger and fear, cause damage to themselves.
The behavior of the autistic Aiden S., 19 years old, who was for some time under observation at the hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, belongs to the fourth, rarest category.
Like many autistic people, Aiden is incredibly dependent on the daily routine, the stability of the surrounding situation and painfully reacts to all innovations. Therefore, any “wrong” action of relatives or medical staff causes A catatonic attack in Aiden: the young man freezes in the position in which he happened to encounter “danger” — pajamas of unpleasant colors, loud noise, unusual food.
His muscles completely stiffen, and if the pose at the time of the attack is not suitable for maintaining balance, then the patient falls to the floor with a loud thud, without changing this position. No force can bend his arm or leg without breaking anything.
Aiden can be in this position indefinitely. Therefore, the doctors, as soon as Aiden was “clean” again, performed a traditional ritual, once developed by Aiden’s mother. The body was carried into a completely dark room, then one of the doctors whispered by heart for half an hour nursery rhymes from “Mother Goose Tales”, and after a while Aiden regained the ability to move normally.
The First Martian on Earth
Bulgarian psychiatrist Stoyan Stoyanov (yes, Bulgarian parents also have brilliant insights) in the 50s of the XX century for a long time observed patient R., who would have been an ordinary schizophrenic if he had not had periodic attacks of the so-called dream-like oneiroid.
The attacks occurred about once every two months. At first, the patient began to feel anxious, then stopped sleeping, and after three or four days left the hospital and went straight to Mars.
According to the doctor, during these hallucinations, the patient changed decisively: from an uncommunicative, sullen, with primitive speech and limited imagination, he turned into a person with a well-staged artistic speech.
Usually, during an attack, R. slowly trampled around in a circle in the center of his ward. At this time, he willingly answered any questions, but was clearly unable to see either the interlocutor or the surrounding objects, so he constantly bumped into them (which is why he was transferred to a “soft room” for the duration of the attacks).
- described receptions in Martian palaces, fights on huge animals, flocks of flying leathery birds on the orange horizon, his complicated relationship with the Martian aristocracy (especially with one of the princesses, with whom, however, he was connected by quite platonic feelings). Dr. Stoyanov emphasized the exceptional accuracy of the details: all the attacks always occurred on Mars, in the same environment.
During the several years that the doctor took notes, R. was never caught in a contradiction: if he said that the columns in the side hall of the princess’s palace were made of greenish serpentine stone, then three years later, “seeing” these columns, he would accurately repeat the previously made description.
Mental disorders are often considered to be a taboo topic in society, but understanding and educating ourselves on the myriad of conditions can help us understand the struggles of those afflicted and strive to be more empathetic. The history of psychiatry has seen many fascinating disorders, and two of the most prominent are frontal lobe epilepsy and Cotard’s syndrome.
Frontal lobe epilepsy, also known as psychomotor epilepsy, is an extremely rare form of epilepsy in which seizures are more intense and can last for up to an hour. During this time, affected individuals display a range of strange behaviors, including laughing, singing, crying without control, and expressions of rage. While the cause of this disorder is not known, scientists believe it is due to abnormal electrical activity in the frontal lobe of the brain.
Cotard’s syndrome, sometimes referred to as “walking corpse syndrome,” is a rare mental disorder marked by the belief that one is already dead or parts of one’s body do not exist. This disorder was first described in 1980 by the French neurologist Jules Cotard, and although its cause is also unknown, some doctors believe it may be caused by damage to the brain or hypothalamus.
Both frontal lobe epilepsy and Cotard’s Syndrome are extremely unique and fascinating disorders. The former is an oftentimes violent and uncontrollable seizure, while the latter is a profoundly weird disorder that causes individuals to feel as if they are dead. Although the exact causes of these disorders remain unknown, they continue to captivate individuals around the world. By learning more about these incredible mental disorders, we can help to destigmatize them and continue to strive for more research to better understand them.