Dr Strangelove syndrome

By Gardy Chacha
Can you imagine your hand slapping you without your brain prompting it to? It sounds like fiction but there is indeed some truth in it.

This real and distressing problem was likened to the Jekyll and Hyde story when first noticed in 1909. It has been given several names like Dr Strangelove syndrome, anarchic hand, and Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS). 

Allien hand
Alien hand syndrome is a rare neurological disorder in which movements are performed without conscious will. In a publication that delves into the condition titled, Moving with or without Will: Functional Neural Correlates of Alien Hand Syndrome, Frederic Assal, Sophie Schwartz and Patrik Vuilleumier, state that Alien hand movements involved a selective activation of contralateral primary motor cortex, presumably released from conscious control by intentional planning systems in the brain.

It earned the popular sobriquet ‘Dr Strangelove syndrome’ from the ludicrous scientist with the unruly limb in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 masterpiece film, Dr. Strangelove. In this film, a wheelchair-bound Peter Sellers, as Dr Strangelove, continually loses control of his right arm, which repeatedly attempts to give the Nazi Party salute before being beaten down by his left hand.

Just like Peter Sellers’ character in the movie, the 40 or so people with anarchic hand in real life are often forced into pitched battles with the appendage. Professor Sergio Della Sala, of the University of Aberdeen is reported to have said, “One of my patients regularly tries to strangle himself at night.”

Examining Dr Strangelove syndrome may help us answer some of these intriguing questions of human free will, says Professor Della Sala.

Addressing the British Association’s Festival of Science this, he said the condition was caused by damage to a certain area of the brain. According to reports, the type of brain damage which leads to anarchic hand is also blamed for a range of unusual afflictions.

Science fiction
That a stroke, head injury or aneurysm can cause a hand to become errant in this manner raises questions about how all our brains operate. There have only been roughly four dozen reported cases of alien hand syndrome.

This may have something to do with the fascinating quality of the condition; the mystery surrounding it or perhaps it’s simply the science fiction moniker and spooky nature.

AHS made its first big-screen appearance in 1935 in the film, Mad Love. The storyline followed an obsessed doctor who replaced the hands of a would-be lover’s husband with those of a knife-wielding murderer.

Sometimes the hand behaved like it’s not attached to the body at all, such as the murderous hand in Oliver Stone’s 1981 schlock horror film, The Hand, Thing from, The Addams Family.

Regardless of how few cases of alien hand syndrome exist, or how little we know about its cause, the mystery and intrigue of the condition will no doubt continue to inspire many to explore its horrific and comedic potential.

— Additional information from the Internet