Metamorphosis

Last week in General Psychology, we were given a new essay assignment, our assignment was to write about a brain disorder that people at any age could have and what it is for 1500 words. So the first thing I did was, GOOGLE. Because I didn’t want to do a normal brain disorder like others, I decided to look into the “weird” brain disorders, and the first thing I got of course was, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.

So, imagine you’re taking a walk in your compound with your dog. While walking back, u suddenly feel as if you were the same size as your house, everything around you became ridiculously small compared to you, even your car seem like those tiny toy cars kids play. The trees on the sidewalk became short rather than tall, you feel like you are slowly sinking into the pavement and time seems to be going faster and faster. What is happening to you?

These are all symptoms of Alice in wonderland syndrome (AIWS). I’ve never heard of such brain disorder before, so I thought, WOW this is so cool! Do I have it???

As I dig in deeper, I found out, that there are many cases of AIWS recorded on the Internet. I couldn’t believe that people have actually experienced something like this in their life, seeing things bigger/smaller than they really are in life, they must be living in a totally different world than us. So I decided to do more research on it, looking into the causes, areas of damage, impact on behavior and the treatment for it.

BUT!
Because AIWS was only first recorded 50 years ago, there are so many things about AIWS that the researchers are uncertain of. There is no specific cause of AIWS or a specific area of damage of the brain OR specific treatment for it. The potential causes of AIWS can vary from classic migraines to temporal lobe epilepsy according to different people. Due to the different potential causes, the area of damage and therapy may also vary. For AIWS patients with history of classic migraines, there are medications and therapies that will help reduce and prevent the symptoms. And for patients with Temporal lobe epilepsy, medications such as phenytoin and primidone will also help reduce the epileptic seizures, however for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy patients surgery is advised.
For more information go to
http://groups.google.com/group/alice-in-wonderland-syndrome
http://headaches.about.com/od/migrainediseas1/a/aiw_syndrome.htm

The impact on behavior of a person with AIWS depends on how often the person has AIWS episodes in their lives. The occurrence of AIWS episodes can vary from once in a lifetime, several times a day to everyday according to different people. People who don’t have as much episodes may have some difficulties in life but nothing serious while those who have episodes very often may find it hard to concentrate and become more anxious. For both adults and children that have severe symptoms of AIWS may experience panic attacks and even suffer from a low self-esteem.
For more information go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A56993016

So, do I have Alice in wonderland? No I don’t. But in a way I kind of wish I did. Although its effects may seem really terrifying, I still wonder what it would be like to see the world in a different way. People that actually experienced AIWS episodes would probably think I’m crazy to feel this way.

Sources
Lu, Y. (2009, January 19). Health Talk: Alice in wonderland syndrome.
Retrieved from
http://www.thetartan.org/2009/1/19/scitech/healthtalk
Sanchez, B. (n.d.). The Mysterious alice in wonderland syndrome. Retrieved
from http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/119262/science/the_mysterious_alice_in_wonderland_syndrome.html
Hemsley, R. (2008). I Have Alice in wonderland syndrome. Retrieved from
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/feb/16/healthandwellbein
g.familyandrelationships/print
Kitchener, N. (n.d.). Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Retrieved from
http://www.cnp.org.eg/html/010.pdf
Hoch, D.B. (2008). Migraine. MedlinePlus. Retrieved (2009, October 10) from
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000709.htm
Schacter, D.L, Gilbert, D.T, & Wegner, D.M. (2007). Psychology. New York,
NY: Worth Publishers.