5 Of The World’s Weirdest Mental Disorders

Published June 3, 2014
Updated September 12, 2018
Fregoli Syndrome Woman Face

Image Source: The Medical Bag

Are you normal? It seems like an easy question, but our grip on reality can be thinner and more tenuous than you think. This shouldn’t be surprising, since everything that you are—your hopes, your memories, your conditioned responses—is contained in one small, fragile brain. The brain is just an organ, after all, and things sometimes go wrong with it.

Unlike a wonky liver, however, a malfunctioning brain tends to yield some really bizarre consequences. Sometimes, the stuff you’ve always taken for granted—such as not being a cannibal, or being able to recognize your mother’s face—suddenly evaporates, and you’re left with a disorder so strange that you get written up in an article like this.

Next up: Are you dead? Are you sure…

Richard Stockton
Richard Stockton is a freelance science and technology writer from Sacramento, California.