By Athena Corbishley
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Capgras Syndrome
Capgras syndrome is a disorder where the individual diagnosed believes that a loved one has been replaced by an imposter. The individual can recognize the imposter's face but believes that an identical duplicate has taken their place. The reason they claim their loved one has been replaced varies with patients, but some patients explain it's the work of the government or aliens. While there is no distinct cause of capgras syndrome, many people who suffer from this disease previously experienced a traumatic brain injury. Others may have pre-exisiting mental health or neurodegenerative conditions. The explanation behind this is that the brain injury causes a disconnect between the temporal lobe and the amygdala. Essentially the brain can still recognize faces but there a disconnect between the emotional familiarity. The brain's response is believing that a duplicate has taken the place of the individual.
Hemineglect
Hemineglect, also known as neglect syndrome, is a condition in which a patient fails to acknowledge stimuli on a certain side of their body. Typically the side affected is the left, but when the right side is affected it is more severe. People with this condition don't have awareness of sounds, objects and people on the affected side. Even their own body parts can be forgotten about. Patients often only dress, shave, and take care of one side of their body. Hemineglect is usually a result of strokes (when blood flow is interrupted to the brain for prolonged periods of time) and other brain injuries that damage the parietal lobe. The parietal lobe is key to processing information between both sides of the brain.
Prosopagnosia
Prosopagnosia is a condition in which individuals have cannot recognize faces. Some people have trouble remembering faces they have seen before, but prosopagnosia is different from that. Individuals with the condition have trouble recognizing family members, close friends and even themselves. Often individuals will use non-facial information to remember different people such as how they dress, hair, clothes etc. While Capgras syndrome has the facial recognition and no emotional response, prosopagnosia is the opposite. Individuals can't recognize faces but they do have the emotional connection.
Synesthesia
Synesthesia is not a disorder but a psychological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sense triggers two or more senses. There are many different types of synesthesia that affect different senses. One form is mirror-touch synesthesia in which the individual will feel what is happening to another person they are watching. So if somebody falls over, the person with synesthesia would be able to feel it happen to themself. There is less serious versions in which a person can hear certain sounds when they see specific colors. The cause of this rare phenomenon is not fully understood, however, research shows that it does run in families. Also, some research suggests that everyone had synesthesia very early in life but for most people it fades away.
Prosopometamorphopsia
Prosopometamorphopsia, also known as demon face syndrome is an extremely rare condition in which people recognize faces as distorted or demonic. There are fewer than 100 cases reported worldwide. People describe the faces as drooping or melting. In some cases patients reported seeing peoples faces replaced with dragons, potato skin, and cartoon characters. Due to the rareness of the disorder it is unknown what causes it. However it is suspected to be connected to brain damage. Most people recover from the disorder within a few days or weeks. For others the condition can last their entire life.
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