Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: causes, symptoms and therapy.

A curious neurological disorder; it produces visual hallucinations about the size of things.

If our senses rarely deceive us, it is, among other things, because in our brain there are a large number of structures that work at the same time to have a realistic image of the world around us.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is a proof of what happens when these processes start to become uncoordinated.

What is Alice in Wonderland syndrome?

It is a very rare a very rare neurological disorder in which visual perception is altered, seeing things at a different size.things are seen at a size that does not correspond to reality.

Thus, it may happen that the person sees an object as if it were much smaller than it is, or that a giant is created between miniaturized elements, or that the opposite happens and he notices how elements of the environment or of his own body are smaller than normal.

In particular, it is very common that the visual hallucinations that appear with this syndrome have to do with the way in which the parts of one's own body are perceived.

Symptoms of this perception problem.

In some cases, the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome may take the form of micropsia, while in others it is expressed in the form of macropsia..

1. Micropsia

In micropsia, everything appears to be significantly smaller than it actually is.

2. Macropsia

In this case, the opposite of what defines micropsia occurs: elements of the body or the environment are visualized in a deformed way, as if they were much larger than expected.

3. Other symptoms

The two previous phenomena mean that one does not know how far away an object, animal or person is from oneself, which causes disorientation, anxiety and a feeling of vulnerability.

These visual hallucinations do not usually last indefinitely, and disappear after a few minutes. On the other hand, it is more frequent that they appear during the nightIn addition, they are more likely to appear during the night, when there is little light and when one is about to fall into a state of sleep (something that is also common in other forms of hallucinations).

In addition, in some cases, the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is accompanied by the loss of the notion of time and/or hallucinations about objects, animals, objects or people that are not really in sight, which aggravates the sensation of disorientation. Sometimes, all these visual delusions are accompanied by tactile or auditory hallucinations.

Where does the name of this disorder come from?

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is named after the famous novel by Lewis Carroll, whose protagonist experienced this phenomenon under the influence of the magic surrounding the region she was exploring.

These parts of the narration were inspired by the experiences of Lewis Carroll himself, who had this syndrome.. However, the symptoms of this disorder are not as stimulating as they were in his literary work, and produce a remarkable discomfort.

Causes

Like any neurological disorder, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome does not have very well known causes, as it is influenced by many things and, moreover, the brain of each human being is something unique and very adapted to each person's life, the brain of each human being is somewhat unique and highly adapted to each person's life..

This means that it can be caused by various types of injuries or alterations in the functioning of the body, whether chronic or punctual. For example, problems of Blood circulation through the brain could produce its symptoms.

On the other hand, certain lesions and diseases, as for example the Epstein-Barr virus, can produce this symptomatic picture.For this, it is only necessary that the functioning of certain groups of neurons begins to change in a way not foreseen by evolution.

Who experiences it?

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is much more frequent during childhood and adolescence.. After the age of 30 it is much rarer and, in any case, it could appear as a result of brain lesions.

Treatment

After the diagnosis of this syndrome has been made, a treatment is established which will depend on each case and on the causes related to the appearance of the symptoms. Sometimes, a better rest and sleep will be enough for the symptoms to subside, while in others it is necessary to treat the symptoms.while in others, chronic neurological diseases and alterations must be treated.

In any case, any form of intervention on Alice in Wonderland Syndrome must be proposed and supervised by a health specialist sufficiently accredited and trained in mental health and neurology.

In the same way, the prognosis of this syndrome is very variable and depends on its causes.It depends on the causes and how easy it is to intervene to solve the problem.