We all know the story of Alice in Wonderland.
A little girl in a blue dress follows a white rabbit down a hole and is suddenly thrown
into this psychedelic world.
She shrinks and grows, sings with flowers, meets the world's creepiest cat, and explodes
out of a house.
No one can really agree on what Lewis Carroll was getting at when he wrote the “Alice
in Wonderland” story, but some believe he had a condition that literally makes people
see life like this.
A condition now called Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.
It can manifest in a bunch of mind-boggling ways, but it’s not about hallucinations.
It’s about your perception of the world around you.
People with this rare condition experience temporary episodes where they perceive the
world very differently than the average person.
Typically, they last anywhere from a few minutes to a few days.
Vision, hearing, feeling of touch, and understanding of time can all be affected in various ways.
Say someone’s hanging out in their kitchen and an Alice in Wonderland episode suddenly
comes on.
Something like the clock hanging on their wall could become so huge it takes up half
the wall (this is called macropsia).
You could suddenly see 25 clocks, like you’re seeing the world from a bug’s eye view (entomopia).
Or one of your body parts might shrink in size dramatically (partial microsomatognosia).
Time can even speed up (quick-motion phenomenon) or slow down (protracted duration).
You might even feel like you’re floating in mid-air (illusory feeling of levitation).
Half the time, this Alice in Wonderland Syndrome happens on its own and isn’t linked with
any other conditions.
But sometimes, it’s connected to physical disorders like migraines, epilepsy, infections,
depression, or encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain.
Scientific understanding of this phenomenon is still in its veryyy early stages.
It’s thought to be very under-reported, making it even harder to study.
It’s not clear how many people have it and it’s not currently recognized as a neurological
disorder or a psychiatric illness.
It’s kind of in a grey area.
It seems to be more prevalent in children, but this condition doesn’t appear to be
particularly dangerous or painful.
Granted, if the symptoms are followed by migraines, which they often are in about 15% of people
with this phenomenon, then they may be proceeded by pain, but the Alice in Wonderland experience
itself doesn’t seem to be really alarming scientists at this point in time.
Studies done on this phenomenon are few and far between, but what have they found out?
Scientists know that this syndrome is based in processing perception.
Parts of the brain involved in this mechanism are thought to be the temporo-parietal junction,
and the occipital, frontal and temporal lobes.
Some of these areas experience decreased blood flow in people with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome,
and at least one study of an MRI during an episode showed electrical activity create
abnormal blood flow in the specific parts of the brain that process texture, shape,
size, and that control vision.
There aren’t any treatments or cures for this condition, but if it’s accompanied
with another, more serious condition, your doctor may suggest treating that to see if
your perception goes back to normal.
If you’ve experienced these phenomenon and were concerned or scared, we hope you find
comfort in knowing that it looks like this just your brain’s way of perceiving the
world.
You aren’t losing your mind.
Are there any other phenomenon you want us to look into?
Let us know in the comments.