According to statistics, every 4th person on Earth suffers from one or another mental or behavioral disorder.
Quasimodo syndrome
Quasimodo's syndrome, or dysmorphia, is a very dangerous mental disorder known for obsessive thoughts of a highly overestimated or even imaginary physical defect. Patients constantly look in the mirror, trying to find an angle in which the alleged defect is not visible; refuse to be photographed, just not to capture their flaw in the picture; overly grooming; have problems with their personal life due to this particular defect; have low self-esteem; feel awkward in society, suspecting that others notice the “defect” and laugh at it. Sound familiar?
The absurdity of this syndrome is revealed in the silent short film "Contracuerpo".
Erotomania
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Erotomania sufferers are convinced that someone is in love with them, and most often someone who has a much higher social status (for example, a celebrity). The patient believes that his imaginary admirer expresses his attitude towards him through special signs, secret signals, telepathy and encrypted messages in the media. It is very difficult to overcome such a disorder: even if the alleged lover says "no" directly, the patient with erotomania interprets this as part of a secret strategy that hides their secret relationship from society.
The theme of this syndrome is touched upon in the film "The Illusion of Love" (the heroine of Marion Cotillard).
Capgras syndrome
With this syndrome, the patient believes that someone from his relatives or himself has been replaced by a double. The patient may argue that the bad deeds attributed to him were not done by him, but by his double, which is exactly like him. This disorder is often associated with schizophrenia.
The feature film "The Double", based on the story of the same name by FM Dostoevsky, reveals the essence of this disorder.
Fregoli syndrome
In this case, the patient thinks exactly the opposite: under the guise of those around him, people he does not know, in fact, someone close is hiding, who constantly makes up and changes his appearance in order to persecute.
The syndrome was first described in 1927: One young girl believed she was being followed by two actors from the theater, where she often visited, assuming the appearance of people she knew or met.
This theme is partially covered in the animated film Anomalysis.
Adele's syndrome
Adele's syndrome is an obsessive compulsion in which a person experiences pathological love attachment. Doctors recently recognized the syndrome as a mental disorder that seriously threatens health and life, equating it with gambling addiction, alcoholism and kleptomania.
Symptoms of the disease resemble deep depression, but they can be much more dangerous: persecution of a person, self-deception, illusory hopes, voluntary sacrifice, ignoring the advice of friends and loved ones, reckless actions and loss of interest in other topics and activities.
About the syndrome and the girl, after whom the disease was named, can be seen in the film "The Story of Adele G."
Cryptomnesia
Cryptomnesia is a kind of memory impairment when a person cannot remember when there was a particular event, in a dream or in reality, whether he wrote a poem or simply remembered what he had read. In other words, the source of this or that information is forgotten, and a person cannot determine whether the idea belongs to him or to another person.
With this syndrome, the phenomenon of "jamevue" often occurs, the opposite of "déjà vu", when suddenly there is a feeling that a well-known place or person seems completely unknown or unusual, as if seen for the first time.
On the photo is a fragment from the film "Science of Sleep".
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
With this syndrome, the patient's perception of surrounding objects and space changes: he can perceive them as significantly smaller or larger, or realize that they are far away, but in a strange way very close. The most difficult case is when a person does not perceive his own body correctly: he cannot understand its shape and size. In this case, neither the eyes nor other sense organs in patients are damaged, the changes concern only the psyche.
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Or obsessive-compulsive disorder - scientifically. Patients with such a mental disorder develop obsessive disturbing thoughts that cannot be driven out of their heads, or "rituals" - special actions that, as it seems to a person, he is forced to perform. At the same time, a person perfectly understands the absurdity of his actions, but their failure to do them leads to incredible anxiety and, ultimately, the constant observance of these rituals.
A striking example of a person suffering from this disorder is the hero of Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie "Aviator".
Paraphrenic syndrome
Paraphrenic syndrome is a combination of fantastic delirium and greatness. Delusional ideas of patients are constantly accompanied by pseudo-hallucinations, "false memories" are observed. Patients consider themselves the rulers of the world, ascribe to themselves immortality, divine origin, claim that they wrote books of great writers under pseudonyms, and the like. People with this diagnosis outwardly become very arrogant and mysterious.
Split personality
Split personality is a very rare mental disorder in which a person's personality is split, and it seems that there are several different personalities in the body of one person. These individuals can be of different gender, age, nationality, temperament, intelligence, worldview, and even illness. The causes of this disorder are severe emotional trauma in childhood: for the purpose of psychological protection, the child begins to perceive what is happening to him as if it is happening to someone else.
The most striking history of split personality occurred in the United States in the late 1970s. When the rapist Billy Milligan was arrested, it turned out that as many as 24 personalities live in his head. You can read about this story in the book by Daniel Keyes.
The main character of the movie "Split" also suffers from a similar disorder.