The medical term to describe Alice in Wonderland Syndrome is called metamorphosis. Also known as AWS, this syndrome’s most well known symptoms include alteration of the body image – the sizes of the body parts are perceived incorrectly, as well as the perception of external objects.

Most cases of AWS appear in children, although some cases during adulthood have been reported. Most symptoms appear at night, with a few exceptions. Sufferers are often confused with the genuine size and shape of body parts and other objects. Parts include the hands and head, and imagining growth usually occurs more frequent than “seeing” shrinkage. Even animals and objects are distorted.

The second most prominent symptom, apart from perceiving objects as larger than what they really are, is the distortion of visual perception. Distances look incorrect, for example corridors seem longer and the ground seems closer. Other symptoms include distorted time perception, distorted touch perception and distorted sound perception.

There is almost always an underlying cause of AWS, and it could be described as a side-effect of something. The possible causes include migraines, temporal lobe epilepsy and the Epstein-Barr virus. There is no treatment that could cure AWS, but there are treatments available for the possible causes of the syndrome.

If you suffer from migraines and believe it to be the cause of your AWS, you could try changing your diet in order to avoid migraines and thus avoiding distorted perceptions. Remember that the condition only works on perception and there is nothing wrong with the mechanics of the eye. It is only the brain’s interpretation of the visual received from the eye that goes haywire.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome could be a very frightening condition for those who suffer from it, but these people should be assured that they are not going mad. Consulting a doctor to find out what the underlying cause is could help you understand and overcome the syndrome, and the confusion that goes along with it.

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