While I was away having a low carbon adventure in Europe (I’ve decided never to fly again) my travel buddies told me about…..the anarchic hand. This condition is a brain injury related syndrome where one of your hands performs actions against your will. Here are some of my favourite examples
Sergio Della Salla writes:
One evening we took our patient, Mrs GP, to dinner with her family. We were discussing the implication of her medical condition for her and her relatives, when, out of the blue and much to her dismay, her left hand took some leftover fish-bones and
put them into her mouth (Della Sala et al.,1994). A little later, while she was begging it not to embarrass her any more, her] mischievous hand grabbed the ice-cream that her brother was licking. Her right hand immediately intervened to put things in place and as a result of the fighting the dessert dropped on the floor. She apologised profusely for this behaviour that she attributed to her hand’s disobedience. Indeed she claimed that her hand had a mind of its own and often did whatever ‘pleased it’. This condition is known as anarchic hand: people experience a conflict between their declared will and the action
of one of their hands. She is not the only person with this bizarre syndrome. Another such patient had problems in choosing TV channels, because ‘no sooner had the right hand selected one station the left hand would press another button’ (Parkin, 1996).
Another patient of ours, Mrs GC, often complained that her hand did what it wanted to do, and tried to control its wayward behaviour by hitting it violently or talking to it in anger and frustration (Della Sala et al., 1991).
Why does it happen? It occurs when damage is caused to a part of the brain that inhibits automatic behaviour that is triggered by environmental cues. When you are driving off to your friend’s house and end up driving to work by mistake – that’s because they part of your brain that is supposed to override this automatic behaviour doesn’t perform.
You have one of these parts of your brain for each side of your body. If one gets damaged you get an anarchic hand – if both get damaged you become unable to stop responding to objects that are in your environment with your automatic response. If you see a cigarette, you have to smoke it (great excuse eh?) if you see a man you have to snog him….er well I made that one up – but imagine if your inhibitions were lost forever? Here some examples of “Utilisation behaviour”.
Lhermitte (1983), a French colleague, revamped this symptom. Among the examples he reported, is that of a 52-year-old lady who was sitting in the doctor’s surgery, when she spotted some medical instruments. She immediately picked up the syringe, Lhermitte was fast enough to take off his jacket and undo his trousers; she bent down to his buttocks to give the injection.
Another patient with the same disorder, while being tested, he spotted an apple and a knife on a corner of the testing desk. He peeled the apple and ate it. The examiner asked why he was eating the apple. He replied: ‘Well…it was there.’ ‘Are you hungry?’ ‘No. Well, a bit.’ ‘Have you not just finished eating?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Is this apple yours?’ ‘No.’ ‘And whose apple is it?’ ‘Yours, I think.’ ‘So why are you eating it?’ ‘Because it is here.’
Yes that’s what I say about chocolate.
My super over achiever friend who has written a book that has sold 20,000 copies has an entry about it on his website, which has allsorts of other odd ; psychological phenomena.
Oo – I’ve just found this – but can’t open the link – sounds great though Compulsive grasping hand syndrome: A variant of anarchic hand. Intriguing.
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One Response to “The anarchic hand”
Posted: Sep 10th, 2007 at 10:50 am
see dr strangelove (stanley kubrick film & one of my all time personal faves) for a classic example of the anarchic hand at work
rich