Introduction:
Mental health issues have become very common in recent years around the world. Millions of people are affected in America. Mental health disorders that include depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia are known and well-understood. Some mental health conditions occur rarely and need to be understood yet.
What Is a Rare Mental Health Disorder?
Mental illness or mental health disorder is a range of mental health conditions that affect a person’s feelings, thoughts, and behavior. People face mental health problems from time to time. When this problem occurs frequently and affects the ability of an individual to function normally, this condition turns into mental health disorder.
A few commonly occurring mental health disorders include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, eating disorders, etc. These are well understood and can be easily dealt with by healthcare professionals. 13 % of the world’s population is affected by mental health disorders. Approximately 971 million people are affected. These may affect different aspects of the life of an affected individual.
There are a few rare disorders of mental health that are not heard about. They are Kyal cap Syndrome, kufungisisa, clinical lycanthropy, depersonalization disorder, etc. These show bizarre symptoms and are very hard to explain. Some rare mental health disorders include
Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID):
DID is a mental health condition in which a person has two distinct personalities or identities. Both identities have their way of perceiving the environment and self. They act differently at two different times. They are so distinct that they have different names, acts, histories, styles, and preferences. This condition is caused due to repeated trauma during childhood. This creates other personalities in that person. This altered personality provides a way to cope with past painful experiences.
Symptoms include,
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Difficulty in managing emotional stress.
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They experience a sense of detachment from selves and their emotions.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder:
This condition is also a personality disorder that shows chasing perfectionism, orderliness, and the need for interpersonal and mental control.
Symptoms include
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These have the urge to get recognized repeatedly.
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They urge you to clean and rearrange repeatedly.
They get distressed if they are not given a chance for their compulsions.
Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD):
HPD comes under personality disorder. Persons affected with HPD show dramatic and erratic behavior to gain attention. These are more self-centered. Their attention is on their physical appearance. Their mental image is distorted. They have low self-esteem and get approval from others for their self-esteem. The interpersonal relationship may get affected due to this disorder.
Symptoms are,
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Individuals who are sensitive to disapproval and critics.
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They act dramatically in front of others and lack sincerity.
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They show inappropriate behavior.
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They do not care about others other than themselves.
Autocannibalism:
It is a rare condition that cannot be diagnosed and is seen only in movies. It does exist. It is also called self-cannibalism, in which individuals eat their parts.
Symptoms include
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Nail Biting.
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Chewing the dead skin of a finger.
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Eating skin scabs, hair, boogers, and discharges of the body.
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They get embarrassed and keep themselves away from society.
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Some show eating disorders.
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They have a risk for infection due to wounds present on the body.
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS):
This condition is characterized by distorted visual perception. This is also called metamorphopsia. It is a visual hallucination that involves the perception of one’s body size, color, and shape.
Symptoms include,
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There is a loss of coordination and sensation in the limbs.
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Hallucinations that involve groups of animals.
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Sensory perception is distorted.
Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS):
In this condition, the individual’s hand acts differently and out of control. The hand acts as if it has its mind. It shows involuntary movements. The person affected may complain about the hand, saying it may drown or stab them. This is due to disturbances in the function of the brain. This occurs due to damage to the right parietal lobe that controls planning and spontaneous movement.
Symptoms include,
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No control of the hand and its actions.
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The limb is like a foreign part.
Capgras Syndrome:
It is characterized by delusion. The person affected fears that an imposter will replace the person they know. They feel that suddenly who they knew becomes unfamiliar. This generally occurs among those with neurodegenerative conditions like dementia, Alzheimer’s, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
Symptoms include
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Believe that a person close to an affected individual is fake.
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Feel the replacement of the person they knew very close to someone else.
Apotemnophilia:
It is a neurological syndrome in which the affected person desires to surgically cut a healthy body part.
Symptom include,
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Very strong will to cut the healthy part of the body.
Cotard’s Delusion:
It is considered one of the scariest mental health disorders. It is also called walking corpse syndrome, in which the affected person feels he is dying or out of existence.
Symptoms include,
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Sadness and depression are severe.
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There is no sensitivity to pain.
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The affected person may stop daily activities like eating and speaking.
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He may have delusions about harming oneself.
Paris Syndrome:
It is considered to be a culture shock. It is a temporary phenomenon that happened to the Japanese when they visited Paris for the first time. The looks of Paris and the language barrier caused culture shock, which caused psychological distress.
Stendhal Syndrome:
This is a condition in which the person gets confused and feels anxious when exposed to a large amount of artwork.
Symptoms include,
- Altered sensory perception for colors and sound.
- The feeling of sickening for beautiful art.
Conclusion:
Mental health is very important for the overall well-being of a person. Mental illness affects a person’s thoughts, mood, and behavior. Hence they can affect a person’s physical and mental health. Apart from common mental illnesses, there are rare disorders of mental health. They are very scary and life-threatening. Knowing about these disorders helps in identifying the symptoms early. Early diagnosis gives effective treatment. This, in turn, helps achieve a good quality of life.
