The haunting "alien hand syndrome"

As you may have noticed, in Lifestyle we have a good space dedicated to the strangest and most curious syndromes, like this one that we present below, the “outside hand syndrome”.

The syndrome of the various names

In effect, this syndrome is called in different ways: "from the other hand", "from the strange hand" syndrome, “From the alien hand” and “from the hand of Dr.Strangelove”, referring to the latter name to the character of the Stanley Kubrick movie, Dr.Strangelove or How I learned to stop worrying and loving the bombs of 1964.

As the name implies, the syndrome of another's hand is characterized by the belief that one of the hands is "possessed" by a foreign entity, and the patient presents involuntary and uncontrollable movements of the same, such as Dr.Strangelove, whose hand tried to hang him and undoes what the other did.

The haunting

Fortunately it is a rare neurological disorder, the first description of which is did the German doctor Kurt Goldstein , in 1908.It is common in patients undergoing a commissurotomy , which is nothing less than a surgical intervention at the level of the brain corpus callosum to prevent communication between the two hemispheres.Of course, other smaller commissures are left intact.

But the terrible thing about this intervention is that it produces a phenomenon known as "divided brain", where each hemisphere acts more or less autonomously.This radical operation has been used in very severe cases of epilepsy to prevent attacks from spreading throughout the brain.

Our syndrome may also appear after neurosurgery , if patients have had strokes; if they have suffered from infections, neoplasms (which is when cells reproduce in an abnormal mass of tissue), aneurysms or if they have Alzheimer's or Creutzfedt-Jakob , all concerning a possible brain damage.

What does someone else's hand feel?

Obviously it shouldn't be pleasant to feel that hand is not part of your body , and it is like that in patients who show the syndrome; They feel the touch but do not recognize what they do.They also have no control over their movements and often, who suffers this evil, completely ignores what their hand is doing until the independent behavior of this calls their attention.Creepy!

The haunting

They often personify that discolo member , and from there one of their names, “syndrome of the alien hand”, because they believe that the hand is a strange being that wants to harm them and therefore, When trying to control it, it is common that the "punish" , and may even harm themselves.

It is said that some people who suffer from this syndrome have serious problems living normally , since "the other people's hand" performs actions that hinder what the rest of the body wants to do. They have ensured that, for example When trying to open a door, the foreign hand has been determined to close it on its own.Frustrating the patient greatly.

Unfortunately, there is no treatment for this syndrome, although many neurologists suggest occupying the "foreign hand ”Holding objects, in order to keep it“ engaged ”in other matters and does not interfere with everyday life…

The haunting

If you are interested in the subject, we can recommend you to read about other equally strange syndromes, such as Alice in the Country of the Wonders, or the one who creates serial killers.

Images: Egidio Levendale , sharyn morrow , 55Laney69 , Michael Semensohn

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