Celebrities with Alice in the Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS): Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is known as a very rare disease in the category of Neuropsychological disorders.
About Alice in Wonderland Syndrome:
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is also known as Todd’s Syndrome or Dysmetropsia. It is a brain-related disorder that can change the perception of our own body or the perception of how we see the world around us or both. It can be temporary or permanent. It is named after the famous storybook.
History of AIWS:
In 1955, DR. John Todd, who was a psychiatrist named a certain set of symptoms after a character in a children’s storybook, ALICE.
Signs and Symptoms:
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome(AIWS) greatly and mainly affects the visual perception of a person. There are a set of symptoms of AIWS and every affected person shows symptoms according to the type of AIWS.
Types of AIWS:
There are three types of AIWS:
- Type A.
- Type B.
- Type C.
Type A:
In Type A, disorders are either somesthetic or sensory. Persons suffering from this type feel the change in their body parts.
Type B:
In Type B, people experience:
- Micropsia
- Macropsia
- Metamorphopsia
- Pelopsia
- teleopsia
Type C:
In type C, people perceive the changing image of both. i.e. their bodies and the things around them.
Common Symptoms:
They include:
- Changed perception of time.
- Distorted images of the body.
- Distorted perception of the size of objects and people/animals.
Causes:
According to research conducted in 2016, the most common causes of Alice in Wonderland syndrome can be Migraines and Epstein-Barr virus infection.
It can also be caused by the influenza A virus, mycoplasma, typhoid encephalopathy, brain lesions, psychiatric conditions, or side effects of some medications.
Celebrities with AIWS:
There are a few celebrities mentioned below with AIWS.
Real-Life Alice ( Abigail Moss):
Abigail Moss was a fiction writer and Journalist based in London. She was diagnosed with AIWS. She was five when she first started experiencing those weird hallucinations. She and her family were unaware of the causes of these hallucinations.
She realized that she had this disorder when she saw it in an episode of a hit television series named “House”.She also read about it in a newspaper.
She said that when she was five she started having these hallucinations. She suffered from these attacks almost every other day and it was much worse because nobody knew about it. As a child, she had frequent episodes of these attacks but after growing up it happens a few times a year.
She recorded her experience and her knowledge about this disorder to increase awareness among people about AIWS.
Käthe Kollwitz:
She was a German artist, sculptor, and an open advocate of human rights. She made an association for women’s rights. She left a diary, in which she described symptoms of Alice in Wonderland syndrome during her childhood. She wrote that she observed objects growing larger or smaller or sometimes they turn into distorted images and they diminish in size.
It was quite evident from her art and can be understood why her subjects are often shaped with large hands, feet, and faces. The distortion in her perception created such pieces.
That’s why it is assumed that she may have suffered from AIWS.
Lewis Carroll:
He was a renowned writer who wrote many books and poems. He also was a mathematician, illustrator, photographer, and teacher. His most famous books are “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and its sequel “Through the Looking-Glass” It is assumed that he also suffered from Alice in Wonderland Syndrome or someone close to him, that could be the daughter of Christ Church`s dean, Alice Liddel. Maybe she was the original inspiration behind the book. Either he or she suffered from this disorder, that’s why he could explain the symptoms through the character in the book.
Conclusion:
Not many but a few celebrities who suffered from Alice in Wonderland Syndrome were known and all those affected celebrities showed it with their art and creations as they didn’t feel embarrassed to show their such type of disorder.