ALICE IN WONDERLAND SYNDROME?

Patterned on Lewis Carrol’s book “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) - coined 1955 by English psychiatrist John Todd - is a disorienting neurological health issue causing perceptual disturbances.  Read on to learn more about.    

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND

In 1955, the English psychiatrist John Todd coined the term Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) – also named “Todd’s Syndrome” today. Based on the famous book “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll.
 
What stands behind of AIWS from a medical point of view?
 
In fact, it is the neurological key term for a situation where somebody may experience perceptual disturbances which can affect this person’s

• hearing
• sensation
• time
• touch

           or

• sight

TYPES OF AIWS - SCIENTIFICALLY VALIDATED

 Although this syndrome is usually related to young people, it still occurs in all age groups.
 
Thereby, we differ between 3 main types of AIWS depending on the  respective perceptual disorder:  
 

• A - Disorders being somesthetic/sensory
• B - Affecting visual senses
• C - Mix of A & B

 
Based on international research at, inter alia,

• State University of New York in Buffalo, NY
• Tomah VA Medical Center in Tomah, WI
• Centre Hospitaliser Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland
• University of Groningen in Groningen, The Netherlands

 
While category “A” includes people who feel as though their body parts are changing size, category “B” is causing more visual distortions of the surrounding environment, such as
       *   micropsia, where the respective person is seeing objects smaller than their actual size;

• macropsia with objects being seemingly too big;
• teleopsia for objects being seemingly farther away than they really are;
• pelopsia with objects

           or

• metamorphopsia when shapes of objects like width or height seem to be inaccurate

 
Category “C” applies for people feeling that their own body and/or other persons or stuff around them is changing.
 
Related to certain symptoms including, inter alia

• distorted body image or perception of size
• altered perception of time
• metamorphopsia
  
• feverish symptoms
  
• epileptic seizures affecting part of the brain
• migraine episodes

 
Thereby, AIWS may be caused by certain diseases such as, inter alia,

• lyme neuroborreliosis
• scarlet fever/tonsillopharyngitis (streptococcus pyogenes)
• mycoplasma
• influenza A virus
• typhoid encephalopathy
• varicella-zoster virus

           as well as

• medication
• psychiatric conditions
• epilepsy
• stroke
• brain lesions
• head trauma

 
With migraines and Epstein-Barr virus infections being the most common AIWS causes.
 
However, also brain tumors may cause AIWS at least temporarily, according to research at the Medical and Finance Center in Gronau, Germany

IN A NUTSHELL

Patterned on Lewis Carrol’s book “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) is a neurological health issue. Causing perceptual disturbances as how the brain may perceive things, changing temporarily. Coined 1955 by the English psychiatrist John Todd (therefore, AIWS is also known by the term “Todd’s Syndrome”).   

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DISCLAIMER

All information stated in this blog are for your personal education, and not to replace the advice of your healthcare provider.