Named after the story, “Alice in Wonderland“, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a condition that alters your perception of yourself and the world around you. It can cause you to feel detached from reality, as well as to perceive things as smaller or larger than they are. However, this condition is interesting in that most diagnosed do not have the condition for a significant amount of time.
AIWS is generally a rare condition that is most common in children, with 2/3 of cases occurring in people under the age of 18 and 30% of teenagers experiencing brief episodes of AIWS. Aside from this, cases are frequent in people with brain-related conditions. AIWS is generally a temporary condition; from 1955 to 2016, fewer than 200 cases were severe enough and lasted long enough to need direct medical attention.
Symptoms
Symptoms of AIWS include:
People suffering from AIWS can have trouble correctly perceiving the size/feel of their body. This entails changes in their sense of reality, their feeling of being ‘connected’ to their body and emotions, their feeling of being in control of their body and its movements, and their perception of the passage of time.
AIWS causes people to visualize surroundings incorrectly. They may see things as being different sizes or closer/farther than in reality.
AIWS can also cause a combination of these symptoms, as well as a couple of others: feeling disconnected from yourself or the world around you, all sounds interpreted as ‘loud’ or ‘disruptive‘, or the feeling of being ‘split in two‘. Despite having many known symptoms, there is no definitive diagnosis for AIWS, but some things can be done to discover it.
Causes
Causes of AIWS include:
- Migraines (as well as some severe headaches)
- Infections (viral and bacterial)
- Strokes
- Mental health conditions
- Medications
- Recreational drugs/inhalants
- Brain tumors
- Seizures
- Degenerative brain diseases
In conclusion, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a rare condition that causes the sufferer to perceive themselves or their surroundings in ways that are different from reality.
RELATED STORIES
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24491-alice-in-wonderland-syndrome-aiws
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4302569/
- https://www.missionhealth.org/healthy-living/blog/alice-in-wonderland-syndrome-what-is-it-and-who-is-at-risk
- https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/transmission/2023/03/14/the-mystery-of-alice-in-wonderland-syndrome/
- https://www.verywellhealth.com/alice-in-wonderland-syndrome-8680279
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