Our Least Known Mental Illnesses

According to the World Health Organization, 10% of people in the 2000s suffer from some type of mental illness. Many of these diseases are related to some form of sociocultural context, such as unbalanced diets or diseases that are rooted in old age. Although some believe that mental illness is a relatively “new” phenomenon that has emerged in modern times, there are historical reports that show that people suffered from mental imbalances even in times gone by. For example, we can read that people during the Middle Ages showed symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress.

Today we recognize lots of mental illnesses, but many remain relatively unknown to the public.

6 lesser known mental illnesses

Wendy’s syndrome

The name of this ailment comes from the story of Peter Pan. A person with this disease is consumed by the responsibility of caring for a younger, more immature person. Furthermore, the syndrome manifests itself as a need to make others happy due to a fear of being abandoned or rejected. It occurs mainly in women with their partners or children.

Spectrophobia

It is a syndrome defined as “ excessive fear of seeing oneself in the mirror. It is not clear if the root of this phobia is a reflective object or the reflected image. For example, a person with this syndrome avoids going in an elevator with mirrors in it and spending a lot of time in the bathroom. Risk factors for this disease are: low emotional intelligence and low self-esteem.

Capgras syndrome

People who suffer from this syndrome stop recognizing loved ones. They believe that these people have been replaced by doubles or fraudsters. The root of the problem is that the victim loses the connection

Foreign accent syndrome

When someone travels to another country or only interacts with a foreigner, it is not entirely uncommon for the foreign accent to “get stuck” with the traveler. However, this syndrome occurs in people who have not had any contact with the dialect. It is related to extensive cerebral damage, such as bleeding.

Euphobia

Did you know that there is a phobia in receiving good news? People with euphobia live happily with bad news and have trouble “taking” good news. This does not mean that the patient is evil, but only that he becomes afraid or suffers when something good happens.

Permarexia

Eating disorders are very common today and they are often talked about in the media, but above all about bulimia and anorexia. However, these are not the only imbalances related to food. People with permarexia constantly follow diets, one after the other.

When they get bored of an alternative, they look for a new diet and try to follow it quickly and strictly. Furthermore, they always set very difficult weight loss goals and goals that are not compatible with feeling good about themselves. When they do not achieve a goal, they often give themselves the blame inside. They attack themselves because they did not have the willpower or were smart enough to follow the diet strictly enough.

This evokes frustration, depression, low self-esteem and inability to love oneself. Most serious, however, are the imbalances that arise due to inadequate intake of certain nutrients.