Depression and anxiety disorders are the two most common mental disorders across the globe, the World Health Organization confirms. In the United States alone, over 40 million people — just under 20 percent of the total adult population — will be struggling with anxiety disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder during any given year. More than 17 million Americans will have been diagnosed with a major depressive episode in the last 12 months.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has kick-started more open discussions about mental health all over the planet, as many of us have been forced to confront our own demons as well as the fact that we simply haven't been able to deal with them on our own. In the process, issues that have been affecting countless people since the dawn of time have finally become acceptable topics of conversation as some of the stigma of mental illness has been removed.
Cotard's Syndrome
People who suffer from Cotard's Syndrome, an exceedingly rare mental disorder, ultimately either believe that they are dead and decaying or that some of their internal organs or body parts are missing. Although the disorder has been documented in the scientific literature, various versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the "psychiatry bible") have viewed it as an integral part of other underlying disorders. Depression with psychotic elements and traumatic brain injury can both lie at the core of Cotard's Syndrome. People who suffer from it may have full-blown delusions that cause them to believe they do not need to eat or drink, since they are already dead, with potentially devastating consequences.
Fregoli Delusion
People who have a Fregoli delusion form the erroneous belief that some of the folks they encounter in their daily lives are, in fact, familiar persons disguising themselves as someone else. Named after an Italian actor who rose to fame for being able to change costumes quickly, thereby inhibiting altogether new roles in records amounts of time, people who live with this rare mental disorder often get the feeling that they encounter their "stalker in disguise" everywhere they go. The disorder has been linked to traumatic brain injury and other underlying causes of cognitive decline, including treatment with certain medications.
Ekbom syndrome
Even though nobody else is able to see it, people with Ekbom syndrome become convinced, in an extremely painful delusion, that their body or the surface or their skin has become infested with insects or other parasites. The delusion is so real that they may have extremely vivid visual and sensory hallucinations. Because this delusion can cause sufferers to scratch themselves and force them to take other extreme measures to rid themselves of the "infestation", Ekbom syndrome can have serious physical consequences.
Trypophobia
A rare mental disorder that has been found to be closely connected to clinical depression and anxiety disorders, people with trypophobia live with a severe fear of, or disgust toward, constellations of small holes. Because this mental disorder has been picked up by internet-famous people with excellent Photoshop skills, you may, in fact, have heard about it already — but although fake images of beehives infesting people's hands have the potential to put anyone off, true trypophobics can experience genuine and severe mental distress when they are presented with images of anything from sponges to cupcakes.
Stendhal Syndrome
Also called aesthetic syndrome, Stendhal Syndrome is a rare mental health condition in which sufferers can become so overcome by beauty that they experience far-reaching physical symptoms. Upon exposure to extraordinary architecture, art, or music, people with Stendhal Syndrome can immediately begin suffering from a dangerously rapid heartbeat (tachycardia), chest pain, sweating, hallucinations, and even loss of consciousness.
Reduplicative paramnesia
As its name already suggests, people with this rare mental disorder believe that a particular place that matters to them has somehow been moved somewhere else, or been duplicated — thereby existing in two different locations at the same time. More commonly, those afflicted with it believe that they were in a location familiar to them even though they were far away, and able to relay details of the experience. Occasionally, they may instead think they are in a far-away place that they may really have wanted to visit. Reduplicative paramnesia has been associated with traumatic brain injuries, especially in soldiers.
These rare conditions highlight the fact that our brains and the rest of our bodies can react to extraordinary circumstances in extraordinary ways. Ultimately, they showcase the wonder of human existence, as well as the pressing need for further research.
Your thoughts on this