The 17 Shocking Syndromes That Are Actually Recognized By Doctors

Paris syndrome affects visitors to Paris who get overwhelmed and experience delusions, hallucinations, feelings of persecution, anxiety, dizziness, to name a few symptoms.

It primarily affects Japanese tourists, and the Japanese embassy even runs a 24-hour help line for tourists. The embassy reports that one out of every 12 Japanese tourists to Paris experiences this form of culture shock.

It can be fun to try to trick people by feigning foreign accents, but unless you're Meryl Streep, it's hard to pull it off convincingly.

However, victims of Foreign Accent syndrome don't find it so fun. These people usually suffer some sort of trauma or stroke that leaves them speaking in a totally different foreign accent. Doctors have yet to pinpoint an exact cause or cure.

The Cotard delusion is a rare mental illness in which the afflicted person believes that they are dead, or in some cases, that they are unable to die. Some victims refuse to eat, saying that they are already dead.

The disease is named after the neurologist who discovered the condition in 1880.

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine is an extremely rare disorder now believed to be a form of Tourette's syndrome, in which the patient reacts with extreme reaction to any unknown stimulus. These people are usually very easily startled.

The peculiar condition gets its equally peculiar name from a group of French Canadian lumberjacks who seemed to experience this affliction en masse.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome, also known as Todd's syndrome, is more common in those who experience migraines.

Those with this syndrome describe feeling that their body is either larger or smaller than usual, or that the objects around them seem to be drastically changing size.

Most people who have experienced this phenomena say that they are aware it is a delusion, but the images are powerfully realistic.

In 1991, a doctor was able to prove that Mary Hart's voice cause seizures in one of his patients. Every time the patient heard the television personality's voice, she'd go into a convulsion. The doctor was able to scientifically prove that Mary Hart's voice was the exact cause.

So far, we've only seen one true documented case of this bizarre syndrome, but an episode of Seinfeld featured Kramer suffering from the disorder.

Boanthropy is a pyschological disorder which causes a human to think he is either a cow or ox. The afflicted tries to live accordingly.

There are few recorded cases of this disorder, but the Book of Daniel in the Bible tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar who believed himself to be a bovine.

This disease is fairly benign, though it might hurt your waistline and your wallet.

People sustain an injury to the right frontal lobe, resulting in a desire to only eat gourmet food. A Swiss journalist had a stroke and upon recovery, quit his career to be a full-time food critic, as he only wanted to dine on gourmet.

This disorder makes the afflicted believe that their loved ones have been replaced by identical imposters. The syndrome is usually the result of schizophrenia or trauma.

A "Saturday Night Live" actor, Tony Rosato, was arrested for criminal harassment after he became convinced his wife and newborn had been killed and replaced by such imposters. His defense attorney tried to claim insanity saying that Rosata was suffering from Capgras syndrome, but the actor insisted that his belief was the truth.

The Fregoli Delusion is similar to the Capgras Syndrome, but this one causes the afflicted to be convinced that the people in his or her life are just the same person in a variety of different disguises.

This disorder is named after an Italian actor famous for his ability to transform himself into a variety of different characters.

If this delusion was discovered today, it would be called the Meryl Streep Delusion.

Stendhal syndrome is a psychosomatic disorder causing fainting, dizziness, and even hallucinations after a person is exposed to something of great beauty, usually art.

The disease is named after French author, Stendhal, who described getting heart palpitations the first time he saw some of the great frescoes of Florence.

This strange disorder sees sufferers craving to become amputees. They feel particularly uncomfortable with a specific limb and feel they will never be content until they lose that limb.

Strangely enough, some psychiatrists have agreed that the healthiest option is to actually amputate the limb after therapy. Hypnotism and other medical procedures seem to have no affect.

Alien Hand Syndrome is a neurological disorder where one believes his or her hand is completely out of their own control. They may feel their hand reaching for an object without willing their hand to do so.

Usually, the sufferer has had part of their brain separated as a result of brain surgery or treatment for epilepsy.

The TLC program "My Strange Addiction" brought a lot of attention to this disorder.

Pica sees a person have an intense appetite to eat foods that are not nutritive or usually even edible. Pica sufferers will eat things such as clay, dirt, urine, metal and more. One variety of Pica causes the person to crave eating objects that are harmful such as nails or glass.

This syndrome sees an individual become convinced that his or her genitals are shrinking to such a degree that they will eventually disappear.

What is most bizarre about this syndrome is that it tends to occur to specific cultures at the same time in mass episodes. This leads to mass hysteria. A study published in 2005 stated that there were at least 56 cases of this disorder in Western Africa between 1995 and 2002.

A koro epidemic hit Singapore in 1967. 97 men claiming that their genitalia were disappearing were admitted to the hospital in one day.

Just as Paris can have an intense effect on visitors, Jerusalem has been known to cause such hysteria that there's now a Syndrome named after the phenomena.

Visitors to Jerusalem will suddenly go into a form of psychosis after visiting the city. They become delusional and the episodes are marked with intense religious fervor. Tourists with seemingly no prior psychology imbalance will suddenly begin delivering sermons in the street.

This hysteria has been seen in tourists of Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths.

This syndrome has only been seen in villages of India. A dog will bite a person who then believes that the bite has conceived puppies. Even men have fallen victim to these delusion. Victims will often bark like a dog and claim that they can see the puppies in their reflection.

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