Top Five Curious, Tragic and Awesome Mental Disorders

By Parenthetical Girls' Zac Pennington

By WW MUSIC STAFF

5. Stendhal syndrome

A rare disorder in which the afflicted experiences rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and occasional hallucinations when faced with a particularly breathtaking piece of art.

4. Delusional misidentification syndrome

Lassoing together a slew of bizarre, exotic-sounding mini-delusions, DMSs are afflictions characterized by the perception that one's surroundings have somehow been nefariously altered. My personal favorite sub-delusions include: Capgras delusion (the belief that a loved one has been swapped for an identical imposter), Fregoli delusion (different people are thought to be a single person in various disguises), and subjective doubles syndrome (the belief that the patient has one or more doppelgängers leading alternate lives).

3. Cotard delusion

A DMS-related condition, Cotard is sometimes called "walking corpse syndrome," as its sufferers believe they are either dead, actively dying, or simply don't exist at all.

2. Body integrity identity disorder

Wherein otherwise perfectly healthy people believe they would be happier as amputees.

1. Koro
Particularly rampant in Asian and African cultures, Koro—or genital retraction syndrome—is the overwhelming belief that one's genitals are in state of retraction or shrinkage, and that they may threaten to disappear completely. There have been several documented cases of mass Koro hysteria in the 20th century.

SEE IT: Parenthetical Girls play Holocene on Sunday, July 17, with Vice Device, Extra Life and Sam Mickens. 8:30 pm. $5. 21+.

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