Fun Facts

Several mental disorders affect thousands of people worldwide. While some of these illnesses are more common and frequent among people, some disorders are rare and not commonly found. Here is a list of some uncommon, rare mental disorders that affect people.

• Reduplicative paramnesia

This is a rare mental disorder in which a person believes that the place he is present in is not where it is supposed to exist, rather it has been duplicated in some other location. He is thus of the idea that the same place exists in two different locations simultaneously. For example a person in his bedroom, living in London, is aware of the fact that he is still in his room in his house but his house is now located in Tokyo. He believes his house still exists in London but the same house is also in Tokyo where he is now. This condition is commonly associated with brain injuries sustained during an accident.

• Capgras delusion

This is a disorder in which a person believes that his acquaintance or his family or friend has been replaced by a similar looking person who is an impostor. This disorder is usually found among people suffering from schizophrenia though in some cases it has been reported to be found in people having suffered an injury to the brain. This syndrome of misplaced identity can have a severe detrimental effect since the person will start displaying a lack of trust in his family and friends.

• Fregoli delusion

The Fregoli delusion or the Fregoli syndrome is a rare disorder. A person suffering from this delusion believes that different people are actually the same person, moving about in different disguises. This disorder can give way to paranoia where a person starts believing that someone is trying to hurt them and keeps taking the form of different people in their family or the form of people the patient meets.

• Stendhal syndrome

This disorder is also known as Hyperkulteremia or the Florence syndrome. In this disorder, a person begins to experience confusion, nausea, and an increased heartbeat when exposed to any form of art. This usually takes place if the artwork is impressive or a lot of it is present in one single place. In other words, the hallucinations arise because the person is unable to cope up with the enormous attractiveness of the world. This disorder takes its name Florence syndrome from the huge number of people that suffer from this condition when they visit Florence.

• Cotard delusion

The Cotard delusion or more commonly known as negation delusion is a disorder in which a person believes that he is dead or does not exist for real or has lost his body parts and organs. This disorder could manifest itself in people who wake up after an accident believing they are dead, and are now roaming in the streets of heaven or hell. This disorder has also been observed in cases of people suffering from depression and schizophrenia

Fun Stuff disorders, mental disorders, syndromes, unusual disorders

The efficient functioning of the digestive system is of utmost importance for leading a balanced life. Any deficiency or disturbance in that digestive system might be a tough nut to crack, as it will create an imbalance not only on the routine day-to-day life, but might turnout to be fatal if not attended to and rectified as early as possible.

The process of digestion involves breaking down the food consumed mechanically and chemically and then converting the same into such forms that can be absorbed into the bloodstream and delivered to the cells. Except for water, salt, glucose and other small molecules, all other types of food that goes into the body undergo the digestive process.

The digestive process actually begins in the mouth. As the food is broken into small pieces by chewing, it is mixed with saliva, which moistens and supplies enzymes that start breaking down the carbohydrates. The food, having been chewed sufficiently, is carried through the esophagus to the stomach. As soon as the food reaches the stomach, it is churned by the muscular muscles in the stomach and further broken down into smaller pieces. The walls in the stomach secrete gastric acid and an enzyme called pepsin that helps in further breaking down the proteins. In addition, special mucous-producing cells present in the stomach prevent it from digesting its own tissues with these strong digestive juices.

The food, thus converted into a semi-fluid state called chime, leaves the stomach and enters the small intestine where the bile from the liver and enzymes from the pancreas break down the fat and proteins. Amino acids segregated from the proteins and glucose from the sugars are absorbed directly into the blood stream. Fiber products and other undigested waste products left over in the small intestine move to the large intestine, where much of the water they contain is reabsorbed. Fiber absorbs large amounts of water, along with some of the starches from vegetables and fruits provide the bulk that helps stimulate the muscles of the colon.

Depending upon the nature of the contents in the meals as well as the metabolic rate of the person, it might take anywhere between two hours and six hours for a meal to be fully digested and its nutrients absorbed.

The disorders in the digestive system mainly comprise inflammation of the stomach lining, also called as gastritis, problems in the intestines such as ulcer, diverticulitis, irritable bowel syndrome, or cancer anywhere in the digestive system. Sometimes digestive disorders might occur as an adverse reaction to any medication, emotional upset, mild viral infection, ear disorder, migraine headache or motion sickness.

In order to avoid digestive disorders, it is advisable to consume plenty of fluids, especially six to eight glasses of water, juices and other non-alcoholic fluids on a daily basis. In addition, plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products and other high-fiber foods should be consumed to help in the digestive process and avoid disorders in the system.

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