It is said that “A healthy mind and a healthy body lead to a happy life,” but not everyone is blessed with a healthy mind and body. Some are even unfortunate enough to have complex physiological or psychological disorders. Depression, anxiety, panic, trauma, and obsessive compulsive disorder are some commonly discussed maladies. But, there are some really strange and rare medical conditions that will astonish you. The following list gives but a glimpse into the world of just a few of these conditions.

1. Body Integrity Identity Disorder is a disorder that causes sufferers to obsessively want to cut off their own healthy limbs and live their lives as amputees.


This disorder may manifest in people when their actual physical form is different from what they expect it to be. More often than not, it is one of the limbs which functions perfectly that a person with this disorder wants to amputate. Studies say that such a disorder occurs because their brain considers that particular limb as “unnatural” or “unfamiliar” to their body. This thought makes them want to amputate it. An encounter with an amputee during childhood is also thought to be another reason for this strange desire. Since there are no surgeons that would amputate a person without a valid medical reason, a severe case of this disorder often compels the victim to cause some harm to that limb themselves.

2. Kleine-Levin Syndrome is a complex sleeping disorder primarily in adolescents that causes them sleep for several days, weeks, or even months. The affected individuals wake up only to eat or to go to the bathroom.


This is an uncommon disorder that brings about repeated bouts of excessive sleep. Once such a bout or episode begins, the person sleeps for days, weeks, or even months at a stretch. During this time, the person is completely cut off from the real world, cannot perform daily activities, and wakes up only to eat or go to the bathroom. Such a disorder may continue for up to ten years or more. People with this disorder have a completely healthy body. When awake, such people are totally disoriented, lazy, confused, extremely sensitive to light and noise, irritated, fatigued, and unwilling to communicate. All they want to do is sleep.

3. Prader-Willi Syndrome is an eating disorder in which the sufferer has the chronic feeling of starvation leading to uncontrolled eating and lethal obesity.

This syndrome, affecting one in 12,000 – 15,000 people, is caused either by genetic mutation or is acquired after birth when the hypothalamus portion of the brain which controls the feelings of hunger is damaged by illness or injured. The sure signs of this disorder are a chronic feeling of hunger, uncontrolled eating, slow rate of metabolism, and terminal obesity. Some other characteristics are low muscle tone, shortness in height, and behavioral problems. Due to the low muscle tone and slow metabolism, such people actually need less food, but this disorder makes them eat insatiably leading to lethal obesity

4. Cotard Delusion is a rare mental illness that makes a person believe that he is already dead and has lost all his blood and internal organs.

People affected with this delusion tend to deny their existence, feel that they are already dead, or believe that their body is void of certain body parts. The real world doesn’t make any sense to them. They do not look out after their health or hygiene and do not feel the need to eat food. Such a disorder is usually seen in people affected with schizophrenia, mental illness, neurological illness, brain damage, depression, or a severe case of migraine headaches. This disorder is named after neurologist Jules Cotard, who has thoroughly studied this delusion.

5. Paris Syndrome is a mental disorder found among people visiting Paris resulting from the cultural shock they experience after finding out that Paris is not how they had expected it to be.

Particularly seen among Japanese tourists, this disorder is caused by a major cultural shock that people get after visiting Paris. Another school of thought suggests that the anxiety of the travel or voyage to Paris causes this disorder. People with this disorder show signs of sickness, hallucinations, anxiety, aggression, hostility, vomiting, dizziness, and sweating. The language barrier, informal culture, the contradiction between ideas of Paris being a land of beauty and romance and the reality that it is a regular city, and extreme fatigue caused by too much sight-seeing are some reasons cited for this disorder. “Jerusalem Syndrome” is another similar syndrome.

6. Alien Hand Syndrome is a condition which affects a person’s limbs, especially the left hand, causing it to move involuntarily. People suffering from this disorder lose control over their hand and often need the help of the stable hand to restrict the alien hand’s actions.

People suffering from Alien Hand Syndrome experience a disconnection between their thoughts and actions. It is usually seen among people who have had a brain surgery, a tumor, or a stroke. Such people do not realize what their alien hand is doing unless it is brought to their attention. The first such case was reported in Germany where a lady complained that her left hand seemed to be completely disobedient and would perform unnecessary actions like wiping her face or rubbing her eyes. As a solution to this disorder, some people personify their alien hand and then talk to it. Other popular therapies are to keep the alien hand occupied with some activity, or giving it a cane or any object to hold

7. Misophonia is a condition that causes extreme hatred in people toward certain sounds, especially sounds of eating or breathing. It causes such intensive panic and rage that the affected person may break relationships or even commit suicide.

This is a recently discovered condition that causes the patients to be hypersensitive to certain sounds like that of eating or breathing. Earlier, this disorder was not diagnosed as the symptoms were deemed to be innocuous, but as the instances of failed relationships, broken families, and loss of employment, all due to what is now called “misophonia,” started to rise, doctors took an earnest interest in diagnosing this disorder. People with this disorder experience extreme discomfort, hatred, rage, or panic on hearing certain sounds and have an intense urge to either escape the sound or do something violent. They get obsessed with such sounds, and sometimes they remember the episodes of panic for many years

8. Adermatoglyphia is an extremely rare genetic disorder in which a person doesn’t have fingerprints.

This genetic disorder is characterized by the absence of a distinct pattern of ridges on the fingers, palms, and toes, and the absence of ridges on their hands and soles of their feet. Since fingerprints are unique and the most trusted source of identification, such people often face problems with attempted immigration. Hence, this disorder is also known as “Immigration Delay Disease.” This disorder is usually inherited from one of the parents. There are only four known cases of extended families in the world suffering from this disorder

9. Witzelsucht is a disorder that causes people to blurt out irrelevant stories or make inappropriate jokes in unsuitable social situations.

Witzelsucht is an embarrassing disorder compelling people to crack jokes or make puns in socially sensitive situations. This disorder makes the victims oblivious to their abnormal behavior. Damage to the frontal lobe of the brain is a common cause of this disorder. In one such case, the patient exhibited uncalled-for laughter and constant pun and joke telling which was in complete contradiction to his otherwise scholarly personality. People with this disorder are characterized by instances of inappropriate and hysterical humor at some times, and at other times, complete apathy toward humor. Medicines like serotonin have shown some positive results in treating this disorder.

10. Truman Syndrome is a type of delusion in which people believe that their life is a reality show or a play being watched on camera.

Also known as “The Truman Show delusion,” this delusion makes people believe that their life is a reality show, stage play, or a movie that is being broadcast on TV. They also believe that they are an actor in the movie or TV series, and their family or colleagues at their work place are all playing some role in the series. This delusion was studied by two brothers, namely Joel and Ian Gold. The TV is awash with reality shows today, and people are heavily influenced by them. At times, the influence is so strong that some people get convinced that their life is a TV show. Doctors believe that the penetration of social media and reality shows is going to cause more such cases of such delusions in the future.

Source:https://factsc.com/medical-conditions/