Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

The Mental Health Syndrome Known as Alice in Wonderland - A Case Report

Jennings Hernandez

International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal · pp. 43–47 · Published 17 Sep 2022

10.9734/indj/2022/v18i1344

Abstract

The Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) is a rare neurological and psychiatric condition, represented as the appearance of disorienting perceptual disorder with occasional episodes of bizarre visual illusions and spatial distortions. It was first introduced by John Todd in 1955, based on the literary chronicles of the strange encounters described by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland books. A 30-year-old healthy male presented to the doctor’s office with left-sided headaches lasting 24 hours and preceded by an aura. During these auras, the patient was experiencing erratic behaviors consistent with the phenomena experienced by Alice, the main character in the world-famous story. He reported objects being larger and further away than they really were and his hands appearing smaller than they really were. Symptoms lasted up to 45 minutes. All clinical and diagnostic workups and evaluations were unremarkable, and the patient was treated for migraines with auras using Valproic Acid. During his follow-up at 3 months intervals, the patient continued with symptoms, and his medication dosage was increased. In his next follow-up three months later, he described having no more symptoms. AIWS has been found to be related to migraines with preceding auras.  It is both common in pediatrics as well as in adults. I present an AIWS case co-existent with aura migraines.

Alice in wonderland syndrome metamorphopsias Todd’s Syndrome lilliputian hallucinations macropsia micropsia teleopsia pelopsia aschematia dysmetropsia migraines aura

References (10)

  1. 1 Pathophysiology of Migraine: A Disorder of Sensory Processing [DOI]
  2. 2 Alice in Wonderland syndrome [DOI]
  3. 3 Advance in genetics of migraine [DOI]
  4. 4 Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: A Clinical and Pathophysiological Review [DOI]
  5. 5 Alice in Wonderland syndrome as aura of migraine [DOI]
  6. 6 Do You See What I See? A Case of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome With EEG Correlate [DOI]
  7. 7 Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS). A reflection [DOI]
  8. 8 Alice In Wonderland Syndrome: A History (P2.042) [DOI]
  9. 9 Journal of Neuroscience and Neuropsychology [DOI]
  10. 10 Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: A Case Report [DOI]

Cited by 2

“Perceiving myself small: a body volume regression to age three” — a new manifestation of Alice in Wonderland Syndrome in a migraine patient

Marcelo Moraes Valênça, Rita Santana dos Reis, Juliana Ramos de Andrade · Headache Medicine/Revista Headache Medicine · 2025

Showing 1 of 2 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

62

Page views

0

PDF downloads

18

Outbound clicks

2

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.