Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is an actual medical term that is used to describe certain types of ordinary migraines (AIWS). The name for this syndrome came around in 1955, and was first described by John Todd, an English psychiatrist, who obviously named it after the work by Lewis Carroll (Medterms.com). This term is used to describe migraines in which a person's vision is distorted, which gives him or her the perception that his or her limbs are of incorrect proportion, or that external objects are of the wrong proportion (AIWS). People who have read Lewis Carroll's book will remember the times when Alice ate the cake, and drank the potion to either become larger or smaller. This is how a person with Alice in Wonderland Syndrome feels while experiencing the particular type of migraine. Katie O'Brian describes the symptoms she has due to this form of migraine in an piece about her on ABC News. She claims that they usually happen early in the morning when she first wakes up. Everything seems tiny to her, just as in the book (Youtube). A very important piece of this syndrome is that it tends to be hereditary (Medterms.com).
This is a huge connection between the Arts and the Sciences. The fact that John Todd chose
to use Lewis Carroll's book to describe a medical phenomenon shows that he must have been
at least somewhat literate in other subjects other than his own. Also, without Carroll's work, what
would the nonscientific name have been? Whatever the name would have been, chances are it
would not have been as identifiable as "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome." This name gives people,
who may not have even read the book, imagine what these people who suffer from the visuals see.
Now, do you believe what these people see?
Here's a link to Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberywocky", try to say it 10 times fast!
Works Cited
"Alice in Wonderland Syndrome." youtube.com. YouTube. 16 Oct. 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
Carroll, Lewis. "Jabberwocky." Jabberwocky. Jabberywocky.com. 1872. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
"Definition of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome." medterms.com. MedicineNet, 31 Aug. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
Hemsley, Rik. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
Tenniel, John. Alice When She Was Tall. 1865. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Web. 27 Oct. 2010.
This is an interesting syndrome. I've never heard of a syndrome called "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome." I know that a migraine gives you a headache and what not, but "distortion", that's weird.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they have a headache while all the distortion is going on, that would probably make life really difficult.
ReplyDeleteIt'd probably be really difficult to live a routine life with that too, depth perception and all.
Woah. How on earth did you find this. I wonder if there are any estimates of how many people live with this syndrome at least for a certain period in their lifetime. I also wonder, how long these vision distortions last.
ReplyDeleteI did a project on this syndrome in high school. It's a very interesting topic! I remember reading in one article that some believe Lewis Carroll suffered from these migraines, and that inspired him to write the Alice books.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this before. I could not imagine living with that pain. I wonder how many people might actually have this without knowing.
ReplyDeletePretty trippy. I would freak out so bad if that happened to me one day. I love that there are so many interpretations of Alice in Wonderland. It's kind of weird that there is a syndrome named after it, and it is most often interpreted as a kid's story.
ReplyDeleteAlice in Wonderland is a trippy story. I think that its interesting that he wrote about his expeirence and it became a classic story. I feel like it would be horrible to live with this condition and look at all of the grief that it causes alice. Maybe he felt just as confused.
ReplyDeleteTotally interesting, and good link. It inspired my idea for my post. And my god, i think I've experienced symptoms of this when i was younger. Freaky stuff.
ReplyDeleteHow crazy! When i was younger i thought that was the coolest thing but i never thought it was real, but to think now that people are really experiencing it is crazy.
ReplyDeleteThey couldn't have come up with some other term for the disease? Every time I hear about this it sounds ridiculous, yet it is a very interesting topic. Its diseases like this that make me wonder what the heck is going on in the human mind. What synapses aren't connecting to create this perspective. Nice post, held my attention well.
ReplyDelete~ Paul
That is rather weird how you can have the same symptoms of a hallucinogen with out even taking any drugs. I think this would freek me out.
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