Psychology

Part A
The condition that will be discussed and analyzed within this brief paper is commonly known, throughout the medical world, as the Alien Hand Syndrome. Primarily, it is an extremely uncommon psychological disease discovered during the early 1900s (Elias, Saucier, 2006), which is brought by the onset of head trauma such as injuries of the head, the brain etc, or as a by-product of extremely complicated brain surgery involving the severance of the two lobes of the brain (Bellows, 2009), for example surgery conducted in order to relieve severe epilepsy (Elias, Saucier, 2006).

Fundamentally speaking, the disease involves one hand functioning whimsically, completely on its own without any commands from the owner (Elias, Saucier, 2006). The movements can be purposeful, as brought about by a brain tumor or aneurysm, or they can be completely random, as is the case under injuries suffered by the corpus callosum, which is the part that connects the two halves of the brain (Bellows, 2009). Although diagnosis of this disease is still not complete in the medical sense, however, it can be concluded from research conducted in the past that this disease is primarily brought about by traumatic injuries to the headbrain as well as after effects of an extremely complicated brain surgery involving the part of the brain that connects the two halves together. Hence, the separation of these two parts, the right and the left side, results in physically attributable neurological disorders.

Under fairly normal circumstances, patients demonstrate generic symptoms such as involuntary movements relating to the alien hand manipulating objects on its own like tearing of clothes, buttons etc (Elias, Saucier, 2006). Also, in rare extreme cases, the alien hand has shown to clamp itself on the owners neck attempting to choke him or her as well as trying to stuff food into the mouth of the patient (Bellows, 2009). Hence, sufferers of the alien hand syndrome often face psychological problems as well as physical ones which result in socially embarrassing situations.

Part B
830 am I woke up shutting the alarm on my clock to drown out the noise that was incessantly trying to wake me up from my dream filled slumber. Since my class was at 1015 and the fact that I also wanted to make it early to the auditorium in order to get the front row seats, I would have to be ready by 945 maximum. I woke up slowly, yawning and walked towards the bathroom to wash my face and brush teeth, an activity which took me longer than normal people because I had the habit of sitting on the toilet seat and contemplating about life.

930 am I went into the kitchen to make my usual breakfast of peanut butter toast and coffee. The breakfast was ready in 5 minutes, owing to the instant coffee machine that I had recently invested in, and I sat down on the table to eat with a newspaper in my hand to catch up on the latest developments within the country. From a very young age, I had developed the habit of reading the newspaper in the morning primarily because it enabled me to remain in touch with the current scenario of the world as well as beefing up my general knowledge.

950 am I got out of my dormitory building and started walking briskly towards the auditorium where my French class was going to be held. It was 12 minute walk to the auditorium because I had actually timed myself once so that I would not be involuntarily late. The instructor was a stickler for punctuality thereby forcing me to walk hastily towards the auditorium building, without any social interactions mid way to avoid unnecessary interruptions.

1012 am I reached class 2 minutes before the instructor was scheduled to walk in and found my usual seat in the front row, dutifully unoccupied. The instructor entered 3 minutes later, sat the class down and started teaching. Blocking out any contemplative thoughts, I focused my attention entirely upon the instructor and started taking notes in order to adequately prepare for the quiz that was to be held in the next class two days later.

120 pm Since it was nearing lunch time, accompanied by a group of friends, I started walking towards the cafeteria. However, in the middle, one of my friends decided that we should all go out for lunch as opposed to the cafeteria because, after 3 years, the food had a ring of dullness to it. Since we were 6 people and only one of us had a car, it was decided that I would driver while the others would try and fit themselves as efficiently as they could at the back. Our next class was at 130 and that meant that we would have to get done with lunch quickly. In accordance with the time constraint, I expertly maneuvered through traffic and brought us to a local Chinese restaurant.  

Part C
Considering my daily activities, if I had the alien hand syndrome affliction, most of the things that I had taken for granted would be severely affected. For example, while waking up in the morning, shutting the alarm clock could prove disastrous in the sense that the alien hand, acting on its own, would by the use of excessive force break the alarm clock or pick it up and throw it across the room.

On the other hand, simple tasks like washing my face and brushing my teeth would prove to be extremely strenuous ventures because the alien hand, under the influence of involuntary reactions, would grab the tooth paste and pour it all over the sink or even worse, it could wrestle with the other hand in a battle to decide who would grab the soap.

Simple activities like buttering a toast in the morning would also prove to be extremely difficult and even dangerous because the alien hand would grab the jar of peanut butter and try to manually deposit globs of the spread into my mouth or it could also grab the knife and eventually injure me one day. Newspaper reading would also be difficult to achieve because the rouge hand would continuously distract me by slapping at the newspaper or trying to grab it out of my other hand. I would not be able to get any reading done.

Walking through campus towards classes or just hanging out with friends could lead to possibly embarrassing situations because the alien hand, acting on its own, would be prone to doing weird things like grabbing at my collar, trying to unbutton my shirt, striking other people sitting near to me etc. Such things would also taken place during classes, while taking notes I would be severely hampered because the rouge hand would continuously distract me as well as other people sitting around me by striking the table, throwing rubbers in the air, fiddling with papers etc. Driving would be almost impossible because the rouge hand would impede in my turning the steering or it would also randomly press the horn which would disturb, not only me but also everyone around me.

Part D
The fact remains that there is no readily available cure or treatment for the alien hand syndrome, however, certain techniques have been developed which can significantly reduce the problems caused by this malady (Bellows, 2009). The best thing to do is to keep the hand busy with some other manipulative object (Bellows, 2009) (Elias, Saucier, 2006). For example, while taking notes, I would provide the rouge hand with a rubber or some other familiar object with which it can keep itself occupied. In another case involving walking in public, in order to control the rouge hand, I would provide it with a walking stick or cane which would camouflage the random movements associated with the alien hand syndrome.

Talking or yelling at the hand has also been proven to work under a number of situations (Elias, Saucier, 2006). For example, while making breakfast or reading the newspaper, if the alien hand were to prove a nuisance or if it were bothering me to the extent that I was unable to get my work done properly, I would yell at the hand Stop slapping at my newspaper, Im trying to read. Another treatment has also been categorized as training oneself to perform a specific task. For example, while brushing my teeth, I would train the rouge hand to hold the toothpaste without spilling it anywhere on the sink. This is viable although it would require a lot of practice.