The 26 Weirdest Mental and Psychological Disorders

Mental disorders are frequently diagnosed today, and according to experts, one in three people suffers or will suffer from some type of mental disorder throughout their lives.

Some of these psychological disorders are well known, such as depressive disorder, anorexy, he Bipolar disorder wave schizophrenia. However, there is other mental disorders and illnesses that are rare due to their low frequency of occurrence or their strange symptoms.

The rarest mental disorders

But… What are these atypical mental disorders? What bizarre psychopathologies can we find?

Below you can find a list with 26 very curious mental disorders:

1. Altrophagia or Pica

Some eating disorders are very popular (such as anorexia or bulimia), however, there are others unknown to the majority of the population. One of them is Altrophagia or Pica, characterized because the person with this psychological alteration have an uncontrollable desire to eat non-nutritive, non-edible substances such as dirt or paint.

Although some children can carry out this behavior due to total ignorance of the harmful consequences of these substances, Pica can occur at advanced ages. These substances, in addition to not containing any nutritional value, can seriously damage the health of the person who consumes them.

• Learn more about this disorder: “Pica (Allotrophagia): Causes, Symptoms, and Possible Treatments”

2. Folie à trois

La Folie à Trois is a very strange psychotic disorder. If the Folie à Deux, in which two people share the delirium, is already rare, the Folie à Trois is less common, in which three individuals share the Psychotic attack.

A well-known Folie à Trois case is of three American sisters. Two of them moved into the same home and were neighbors of his other sister. The disorder arose suddenly when they strengthened ties, since they spent a lot of time together.

All three sisters had strong religious beliefs and the little girl began to question how there could be different interpretations of the Bible. This idea developed in the minds of the three sisters, and they decided to go to a house that was not theirs to begin their work. The owners of the home, who were in the house at the time, did not let them in, they called the police. When they arrived at the scene, they were attacked by the three sisters.

• Related article: “Folie à Deux (shared madness): the strangest cases”

3. alien hand syndrome

Alien Hand Syndrome (also Alien Hand Syndrome or Dr. Strangelove Syndrome) is a rare neurological disorder in which the hand goes off on its own and does what it wants. The person feels that the hand is not his.

This syndrome should not be confused with Phantom Limb Syndrome, which is suffered by some people who have lost a limb. You can learn more about this last condition in this article: “The phantom limb and mirror box therapy.”

4. Trichophagia

Trichophagia or Rapunzel Syndrome is another very strange eating disorder due to the infrequency in which it occurs. It consists of the person who suffers from this condition has an irresistible desire to eat her own hair. This causes serious problems in the stomach, as the hair causes an intestinal blockage. It usually occurs together with trichotillomania, which is the pathological impulse to pull out one's own hair.

5. Autocannibalism or Autosarcophagy

This strange mental disorder is characterized because the person eats its own skin or consumes its own blood. Self-cannibalism also occurs in Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome, a disorder in which a person self-mutilates and consumes their own body parts.

Individuals with this disease engage in compulsive behaviors such as biting their fingertips and lips (or any other part of the body to which they have access), sticking their fingers in their eyes or throwing their body against the wall.

6. boanthropy

If the case of Zoanthropy is already rare, in which the person thinks they are an animal, in boanthropy he believes he is a cow or an ox. This type of behavior is known as delusions of lycanthropy, a psychopathological phenomenon that manifests as the unreal belief in the transformation of the body into that of an animal. In this case, the person adopts the typical behaviors of the animal in question.

7. aboulomania

It may be that sometimes we have to make a difficult decision and we do not know what to do, something that is not normal. Instead, there are people who suffer from aboulomania, that is, the inability to make decisions. Deciding what to eat in a restaurant when you have the menu in hand becomes a difficult situation when a person suffers from this psychological disorder.

8. foreign accent syndrome

Foreign Accent Syndrome is one of the rarest neurological disorders, usually the result of brain injury, such as an accident or stroke. It is a rare condition, which causes the person to speak their mother tongue as if she had a foreign accent.

9. hikikomori

Hikikomori is a psychopathological and sociological phenomenon that is characterized by the fact that the person isolates himself from society and locks himself in his room. avoiding contact with the people around you. It receives this name because, until recently, it was characteristic of Japan. Today it is known that there are also cases in the West, even in Spain.

• Recommended article: “Hikikomori in Spain: social isolation syndrome does not only affect Japan”

10. Diogenes syndrome

Diogenes Syndrome is one of those most well-known rare disorders. It is characterized because people who suffer from this condition store and collect many belongings and possessions in your home. These people are unable to get rid of them, so they accumulate more and more rubbish and abandoned objects in general. People find it strange that a person can live surrounded by garbage and this generates isolation, as well as hygiene and food problems.

You can learn more and delve into this disorder in our article: “Diogenes syndrome: causes, symptoms and treatment”

11. Tourette syndrome

One of the most striking disorders is undoubtedly Tourette Syndrome or Gilles de Tourette Syndrome (after Georges Gilles de Tourette, who is the eponym of this disorder). It is a neurological disorder characterized by the fact that those who suffer from it make involuntary movements and sounds without a specific purpose.

To better exemplify what this disorder is, we invite you to learn more about a well-known real case. You can see it in this article that contains audiovisual content: “Super Taldo: the famous case of the Chilean child with Tourette Syndrome.”

12. Stockholm syndrome

This disorder occurs in those people who have been victims of a kidnapping, show some kind of positive feeling towards their captors and create emotional bonds with them. Some experts think that it is a defense mechanism, a reaction caused by the stress of a traumatic situation that happened. It is considered a rare disorder because it is difficult to understand.

• You may be interested in: “Stockholm Syndrome: Friend of my kidnapper”

13. Taijin Kyofusho Syndrome

Taijin Kyofusho Syndrome is a social anxiety disorder (SAD) that commonly occurs in Japan, and characterized by a strong fear that the body, its parts, or its functions are offensive to other people.

It can be confused with social phobia, but while the latter refers to the fear of being embarrassed in front of others In addition, individuals with Taijin Kyofusho Syndrome fear embarrassing others by virtue of their presence or appearance.

In other words, in social phobia the person worries about her reaction, in Taijin Kyofusho he worries about how others will feel in his presence.

14. erotomania

This mental disorder is rare. The person who suffers from it has the illusory belief that an individual, of superior status, is in love with him or her, with the peculiarity that the person supposedly in love is usually someone famous. A strange and unusual pathology.

15. Omphalophobia

Omphalophobia is the irrational fear of belly buttons. This fear or discomfort is towards your own navel or that of others. These individuals experience difficulties when bathing because they cannot look at or touch their navel.

The symptoms are characteristic of any specific phobia: irritability, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, a feeling of fury along with anger, as well as a feeling of total helplessness. Without a doubt, one of the rarest mental disorders.

16. jerusalem syndrome

A disorder is strange that manifests itself in the form of delusions, visions and loss of contact with reality, after visiting the Holy City of Jerusalem or other holy areas of Israel. It is a psychotic disorder that affects both tourists and people who live in this city.

17. paris syndrome

Jerusalem is not the only city that is part of this list of mental disorders, as we can also find the city of light: Paris. The Paris Syndrome is a psychological condition experienced by Japanese tourists who are very disappointed when they visit the French capital. The reason seems to be found in the unrealistic expectations that the Japanese have regarding this metropolis.

• You can find out more in our article: “Paris syndrome: the strange disorder suffered by some Japanese tourists”

18. Koro Syndrome (Genital Restraint Syndrome)

Another disorder that occurs more frequently in Asian countries is Koro Syndrome, an anxiety disorder characterized because the person who suffers from it thinks that her penis is shrinking every day until disappear. Not only that, but his member is absorbed by the body until death is caused.

Although it occurs mostly in men, some women also have the belief that their external genitalia and nipples will be absorbed into the body and they will die.

19. Alice in Wonderland disease

Alice in Wonderland Disease is characterized by the presence of micropsia or macropsia, and is a neurological disorder that affects visual perception and in which the person sees surrounding objects as smaller (micropsia) and larger (macropsia). Patients also suffer from an alteration in the perception of time in certain places or moments

20. Munchausen syndrome

Münchausen syndrome is a type of factitious disorder. It is an affectation in which people constantly and intentionally simulate very striking diseases. This can cause her to self-harm or ingest toxic substances to receive care. His motivation is to assume the role of sick and be cared for.

• Related article: “Münchhausen syndrome: causes, symptoms and treatment”

21. triskaidekaphobia

This phobic disorder is due to irrational fear of the number 13. People with this phobia avoid this number because of the tremendous anxiety they feel when seeing it or touching anything that contains it. We must differentiate this type of anxiety disorder with parascevedecatriaphobia, which is the phobia of Friday the 13th. It is one of the strangest mental disorders due to the specific nature of what causes fear.

22. crystal illusion

This is a very rare psychological disorder in which the person He believes that his body is made of glass and that it can break at any moment.. Despite the evidence that they are made of flesh and blood, they are unable to give up this false belief.

23. Cotard's syndrome

This serious mental disorder is rare. It is characterized because the subject perceives that he is separated from reality. You can see your body in the mirror, but you notice it as something foreign, as if it doesn't exist. Individuals with Cotard's Syndrome, often believe they are dead or in a state of decomposition.

• Related text: “Cotard syndrome”: living people who believe they are dead”

24. Fregoli syndrome

A rare mental disorder in which the person suffering from it has the belief that different people are really one. Therefore, he thinks that this individual is capable of modifying his physical appearance. It is usually accompanied by persecutory delusions.

25. Capgras syndrome

If the previous point seemed strange to you, Capgras Syndrome is even stranger. The people who suffer they think their friends and family are actually impostors, despite there being no objective reasons for having this belief. They often react with hostility towards their family and friends, thinking that it is not them.

• Related article: “Capgras syndrome: when loved ones are impostors”

26. Reduplicative Paramnesia

This type of delusional disorder is really curious, because the person you have the delusional idea that the context or scenario you are in has been duplicated, that is, there is another equal or several identical somewhere in the world. They may also believe that that specific place has been moved to another location.