In memory of Bekhterev: amazing disorders of the human psyche (14 photos)

95 years have passed since the death of the outstanding psychiatrist Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev. But the works of the scientist, who is equally brilliant in such areas as physiology, neurology, psychology and more, do not lose relevance even today.

A little from the life of a scientist





Vladimir Mikhailovich was born in the village of Sarali, which was renamed Bekhterevo in his honor. He founded a psychoneurological institute in St. Petersburg, where work was carried out on the systematic study of man.



The scientist completed detailed descriptions of some diseases and selected methods for their treatment, and also developed a number of medications.





January 20 marks the 165th anniversary of the birth of Bekhterev. And it would be especially symbolic to honor the scientist’s memory by analyzing the most unusual mental disorders of which the human brain is capable.

Quasimodo syndrome



The official name of the disease is dysmorphophobia. It is manifested by pathological attention to an overly overestimated or fictitious defect in appearance. Those suffering from Quasimodo syndrome, named after the ugly hunchback - a character in the novel “Notre Dame de Paris” by Victor Hugo, stand for hours in front of the mirror, trying to find advantageous poses and ways to disguise the defect, and refuse to be photographed, especially in a group. Such people experience difficulties in their personal lives due to complexes, and feel uncomfortable in society due to the thoughts that everyone is looking only at them, discussing and laughing behind their backs.

This is a very common illness in modern society due to the fact that culture rigidly imposes certain canons of beauty. And inconsistency with them in impressionable people, especially young people, gives rise to a lot of complexes. In parallel with the syndrome, a person may develop eating disorders and an uncontrollable desire to undergo plastic surgery.

Erotomania



It manifests itself as an obsession with boundless love, obsession and affection on the part of a certain person. Which is not true, since the object of desire may not even know about the existence of his supposed lover or beloved. A separate direction - Clerambault's erotomania is manifested by conviction of love on the part of a person occupying a much higher social position. Confidence in love is reinforced by a fictitious system of secret language, signs, body language, and telepathy. In art, this syndrome is well represented in the films “Loves - Loves Not” and “The Illusion of Love.”

Adele syndrome



This syndrome is named after Victor Hugo's daughter Adele, who suffered from an obsessive condition in the form of a pathological attachment to the English officer Albert Pinson. The girl pursued the man, told everyone about the engagement and upcoming marriage, and upset his wedding. The father, understanding his daughter’s suffering and the inadequacy of her behavior, placed her in a psychiatric hospital, where she lived until the end of her days. The tragic life of the girl was used as the basis for the film “The Story of Adele G.” The syndrome is not included in the list of psychiatric diseases that have official confirmation, but experts put it on a par with alcohol and drug addiction and gambling addiction.

Capgras syndrome



The syndrome was named after the psychiatrist Joseph Capgras, who was the first to describe this deviation. It is often found in patients with schizophrenia and is manifested by the belief that either the patient himself or someone close to him has been replaced by a double. After committing unseemly acts and even illegal acts, a person claims that it was not him. At all times it has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for creativity. This topic is vividly discussed in Dostoevsky’s story “The Double” and the film based on it.

Fregoli syndrome



This condition is the previous syndrome in reverse. That is, the patient is firmly convinced that under the mask of a completely unfamiliar person or people, someone close to him is hiding. Deviation in behavior received its name in honor of the Italian actor Leopoldo Fregoli, who masterfully knew how to change his appearance during the course of the action.

This theme is partly explored in Charlie Kaufman's film Anomalisa. By the way, this talented director in his works often touches on the topic of mental disorders and the unexplored capabilities of the human brain.

Cryptomnesia



This disorder is manifested by memory problems, expressed in a person’s inability to remember whether this or that event happened to him, whether he wrote the book himself, or simply read someone else’s work, considering it his own.

This state is characterized by the so-called jamevu effect - a state opposite to deja vu. That is, well-known people, places, events seem completely unfamiliar. This topic is played out in an interesting and instructive way in Michel Gondry’s film “The Science of Sleep.”

Alice in Wonderland syndrome



As the name implies, this deviation is associated with the heroine of the Lewis Carroll fairy tale of the same name. A person suffering from it loses the ability to compare objects with space and each other: he does not understand whether they are far from each other or close, whether they are big or small things. The most severe form is the inability to correctly perceive and evaluate one’s own body. The patient has no disturbances in the functioning of the organs of vision or other senses; the distortion is the result solely of mental disorders.

This syndrome was discovered by the American psychiatrist John Todd, and its second name in foreign literature is Todd syndrome. In our country they use the term autometamorphopsia or a violation of the body diagram.

Obsessive Obsessive Syndrome



The scientific name for this disorder is obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is manifested by the inability to get rid of certain rituals and actions. It seems to a person that if he does not commit them, then something terrible and irreparable will happen.

In the Middle Ages, such patients were considered possessed by spirits or the devil. The first descriptions of OCD were made by church minister Robert Barton, who described a panicky fear of death. An example of deviation in modern art is DiCaprio’s character in the film “The Aviator.”

Paraphrenic syndrome



This illness is a combination of megalomania and delusional ideas. May be complicated by false memories and hallucinations. Such patients consider themselves gods, celestial beings, rulers of the world, great writers, painters and more. The syndrome was first described by the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin.

Split personality



This is one of the rarest and most complex psychiatric diseases, manifested by the existence of multiple personalities in one person. In common parlance it is called split personality. At different times, management may switch to one or another of the existing ones, which is expressed by a change in habits, behavior, facial expressions, gestures, and voice.



The most famous and striking example of splitting to date is that of the American criminal Billy Milligan. As a result of the study, it was found that as many as 74 personalities coexist in it! Several books and films are dedicated to this case. James McAvoy brilliantly brought to life a person with multiple personality disorder in the film “Split.”