Deja vu is a mental state in which a person feels that he has already been in a similar situation, but this feeling is not associated with a specific moment of the past, but refers to the past in general. No one knows exactly how and why déjà vu occurs. For most people, episodes of déjà vu are rare, but some experience them frequently due to epilepsy or dementia.
Recently, a 23-year-old man from the UK complained of persistent déjà vu caused by anxiety rather than a neurological disorder. This is the first ever case of “psychogenic déjà vu” (due to psychological causes), New Scientist reports.
The patient began to experience episodes of déjà vu after he entered the university. During this period, he experienced severe anxiety and suffered from obsessive thoughts and actions.
As time went on, the man's state of deja vu became more and more prolonged, and then - continuous after he had tried LSD. Now the young man avoids television and radio, and the newspapers make him anxious because everything seems familiar to him.
Psychologist Christine Wells of Sheffield University, who worked with an interesting patient, gave him a test aimed at assessing memory. The man's results were more similar to those of healthy people of his age, rather than those of epileptic patients suffering from déjà vu. MRI and EEG also showed no abnormalities.
Christine Wells says: “There are several theories that explain the phenomenon of déjà vu. The generally accepted theory suggests that the cause is a temporary dysfunction of neurons in the temporal lobes of the brain associated with memories. Misfires in the recall process make the situation seem familiar to us. Probably, in my patient's case, the glitches are alarming. A déjà vu ensues, which makes him even more anxious. It's a kind of vicious circle."
Now the psychologist is trying to find out if there are other similar cases.