What is alien hand syndrome?

Category: medical health brain and nervous system disorders
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Alien hand syndrome (AHS) or Dr. Strangelove syndrome is a category of conditions in which a person experiences their limbs acting seemingly on their own, without conscious control over the actions. Other areas of the brain that are associated with alien hand syndrome are the frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes.



Considering this, what are the causes of alien hand syndrome?

Alien hand syndrome can be caused by several factors. Some people develop alien hand syndrome after a stroke, trauma, or tumor. It's sometimes associated with cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and brain aneurysms. Alien hand syndrome is linked to brain surgeries that separate the two hemispheres of the brain.

Also, what is the meaning of an alien hand? Alien hand syndrome: The feeling that one's hand is possessed by a force outside of one's control. The syndrome typically arises after trauma to the brain, after brain surgery or after a stroke or an infection of the brain.

Similarly, you may ask, how does alien hand work?

Alien hand syndrome is a phenomenon in which one hand is not under control of the mind. The person loses control of the hand, and it acts as if it has a mind of its own. The etiology includes neurosurgery, tumor, aneurysms, and rarely stroke (1).

How many cases of alien hand syndrome have been reported?

Alien hand syndrome in stroke: a report of 2 cases and review of the literature. Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a rare condition that occurs in patients with brain injury. It has also been described in stroke subjects, after callosotomy, and in corticobasal degeneration.

11 Related Question Answers Found

Is alien hand syndrome curable?

Treatment. There is no cure for the alien hand syndrome. However, the symptoms can be reduced and managed to some degree by keeping the alien hand occupied and involved in a task, for example by giving it an object to hold in its grasp.

How do you treat alien hand syndrome?

Some methods that have been successfully used in the treatment of alien hand syndrome include therapies directed at muscle control, such as botulinum toxin and neuromuscular blocking agents. Cognitive therapy techniques have been used with cooperation from the majority of patients with moderate efficacy.

How was alien hand syndrome discovered?

The patient repeatedly grasped and put down an object with his right hand, apparently unintentionally. Goldstein first connoted the "alien" quality of unilateral repetitive grasping, the impression that an alternate entity is responsible for the behavior (Goldstein 1908).

What is it called when one hand mimics the other?

Description. Congenital mirror movement disorder is a condition in which intentional movements of one side of the body are mirrored by involuntary movements of the other side. For example, when an affected individual makes a fist with the right hand, the left hand makes a similar movement.

What is Somatoparaphrenia?


Somatoparaphrenia is a type of monothematic delusion where one denies ownership of a limb or an entire side of one's body.

Is foreign accent syndrome real?

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) happens when you suddenly start to speak with a different accent. It's most common after a head injury, stroke, or some other type of damage to the brain. Although it's extremely rare, it's a real condition.

What is Hemispatial neglect?

Hemispatial neglect is a neuropsychological condition in which, after damage to one hemisphere of the brain is sustained, a deficit in attention to and awareness of one side of the field of vision is observed.

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