Alice in Wonderland: the Movie, the Syndrome

I finally saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland last night and actually liked it better than I'd expected I would. I knew it was a good sign when I realized that my ticket print-out read Alice in Wonderland 3; it was then that I knew that the film was trying to be its own stand-alone story and not simply an adaptation of the books.

A perfect case of going to the movies with low expectations and not being disappointed.

This brings me to a discovery I made during my last bout of internet search engine-fueled hypochondria: Alice in Wonderland Syndrome.

Ever wonder what it would feel like to be Alice, sometimes growing as tall as a house, other times shrinking smaller than a dormouse? People affected by Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) can suffer these sorts of distortions of their perceptions. They might wake up in the middle of the night to find that they feel like their arms and legs have been stretched out like spaghetti.


Though it is most commonly associated with body perceptions and dysmorphisms, perceptions of objects, and spaces might also be distorted (ie., your room suddenly seems too small or huge). Other modalities can also be affected: sounds might appear to be louder, or time might appear to be passing too quickly or too slowly.



It's been speculated that Lewis Carroll - the author of the popular Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There - actually suffered from this syndrome (he was known to suffer from migraines -- a condition commonly associated with AIWS), and worked his experiences into his stories. Personally, I find this much more interesting and plausible than the LSD theory (or rather, ergot, since LSD hadn't been developed yet).

To read more about AIWS, check out these links:

http://www.aiws.info/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A56993016

And some accounts of experiences of AIWS:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/feb/16/healthandwellbeing.familyandrelationships/print
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9f3w1/i_have_alice_in_wonderland_syndrome_aiws_ama/