Alien Hand Syndrome

Basic Information

Alien Hand Syndrome (also sometimes known as AHS, Anarchic Hand or Doctor Strangelove Syndrome) is a neurological disorder where the patient / sufferer has little or no control over one of their hands, but that hand still does things. The hand might grab things without the person noticing, and then not let go. It might unbutton the shirt the other hand had just buttoned. It might make rude gestures in public. It may automatically pick up all nearby hairbrushes and start brushing. It may perform a parody or reversal of whatever the normal hand is doing. There's even reports of the affected hand trying to strangle the person it's attached too - such sufferers often sleep with their alien hand tied to the bed, just to be safe. The patient is generally unable to control their alien hand, and may end up wrestling with it.

AHS is extremely rare. It sometimes develops after brain surgery, such as corpus callosotomy intended to cure epilepsy. In other cases, it has set in after a stroke or infection. It most commonly happens to your non-dominant hand. Beyond mere lack of control, it's possible for a victim of this disorder to be unaware of what the hand is doing - only realizing what's happening when the hand's actions are so overt they draw attention. Some patients express a feeling that the hand is possessed by an alien or spirit. Some individuals personify the alien hand, giving it a name and perceiving a distinct and seperate personality in its actions.

See Also:

Related Conditions:

• Environmental Dependency Syndrome
• Split Brain

Unrelated, but thematically relevant:

• Delusional Misidentification Syndrome
• News: Doctors confirm woman's imaginary third arm

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia

2. NonFiction: 13 Things That Don't Make Sense by Michael Brooks

3. Movie: Mad Love (1935) — When a concert pianist's hands are mutilated in an accident, an obsessive doctor replaces them with the hands of a murderer. Things go badly. Of course, it's not a case of actual alien hand syndrome, but will give you ideas of crazy things that might happen.

4. Movie: Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964) - the titular doctor has the syndrome, and the example is famous enough that AHS is often called Strangelove Syndrome.

Game and Story Use

• It would definitely make an interesting Flaw or Hindrance for a player character or major NPC.
  • AHS has complications beyond "merely" being one-armed, so if that's a possible character flaw in your system, this should probably be worth more points.
  • It would take a high degree of trust between GM and player, as a sneaky GM controlling the hand could really mess things up for you.
• Given that it can be caused by brain surgery or head trauma, AHS could make for a very interesting Critical Hit result, too.
  • Until the wound is fully healed (or a "cure disease" spell is used), your hand is effectively an NPC. Take that!
  • This can be quite chaotic and disruptive, so, it would have to be an extremely rare critical.
• Rather than the medical definition, in gaming a demon, nanorobot, ghost, shadowfolk, or other biological invader may be the cause. It may literally be an alien hand.
  • An "outbreak" in which many people (without head injuries) start exhibiting AHS may be the first sign of an alien invasion, demonic invasion, witchcraft, or other paranormal or extraterrestrial event.
• For additional ideas, see Red Right Hand, Evil Hand, Organ Autonomy, Power Fist, Animate Body Parts, Nightmare Fuel and Body Horror.