Alien Hand Syndrome

Imagine having a body part that worked independently from what the brain told it to? For some people, this is not a choice, it is a very real condition known as Alien Hand Syndrome. One television example of this disorder can be seen on House when a patient slaps, hits, and grabs anyone and everyone around him, without his control .

Jeff Fahey played a movie role in which his arm had a mind of its own. The movie was Body Parts (1991) and Fahey played the role of a criminal psychologist who loses his arm in a car accident and replaces it with a donor arm from an executed serial killer. Needless to say, the arm starts to act with a mind of its own.

Alien Hand Syndrome (AHS), is a neurological condition and is most commonly seen in people who have had surgical intervention for severe epilepsy. This procedures includes a separation of the right and left brain hemispheres. AHS can also be seen after a stroke or other forms of brain surgery.

Alien Hand Syndrome is thought to be caused when damage has occurred to the medial motor frontal region of the brain. The area of the brain that controls movement of the body's limbs is separated from having control of the non-dominant limbs. Patients with Alien Hand Syndrome have sensation and can feel movement of the hand, they just have no control over what it does. Unless they keep the hand in view, they don't know what it is doing unless someone else tells them.

Alien Hand Syndrome sufferers will often times give their affected hand its own name or personal reference. Some will call it "possessed", while others will refer to it as if it were a person or object, like a whole other being.

The affected hand will perform normal acts without the person even realizing it. Some acts could include buttoning and unbuttoning clothing, brushing hair, and manipulating tools, all without the person even knowing it.

While no specific treatment currently exists for Alien Hand Syndrome, some symptoms can be lessened by keeping the affected hand occupied, by giving the hand something to hold. Giving the hand something to hold to reduces the chances of the reach and grasp response typically seen with this disorder.

One effective technique put to use is of a man with AIS affecting his hand and it would grab onto objects as he walked past them. The hand would grab onto door handles, knobs, or rails. To keep his hand from grasping these objects, he began carrying a cane in his affected "alien hand". The hand stayed occupied, and no one knew the difference when they saw someone walking past with a cane, even though he did not medically need it to walk.

The theories and treatment strategies for Alien Hand Syndrome can be very complex. For more information in greater detail, just look it up online.