This student suffers from déjà vu so bad he had to drop out from uni
This student suffers from déjà vu so bad he had to drop out from uni
Harry ShukmanHave you ever had the feeling you have seen it all before?
You should spare a thought for the student whose déjà vu was so bad he stopped watching TV, listening to the radio and reading newspapers, thinking he knew it all before.
The unnamed 23-year-old told doctors he was “trapped in a time loop” and said he felt as if he was reliving the past moment by moment.
He even had to drop out of uni and suffered from further attacks when he travelled abroad.
Expert psychologists diagnosed the man with severe déjà vu and published details of his case in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.
Doctors are puzzled as the student does not suffer from any of the expected neurological conditions usually seen in people suffering from déjà vu.
But it is thought in this case the man’s anxiety may have triggered the “time loop”.
The patient began experiencing déjà vu at 20, when episodes would last for minutes. Then at uni he took LSD once and from then on his attacks began to last longer.
Analysts at Sheffield Hallam, Exeter, Leeds, KCL and French and Canadian unis have looked into his case.
Report author Dr Christine Wells, a psychology boffin at Sheffield Hallam said: “Rather than simply the unsettling feelings of familiarity which are normally associated with déjà vu, our subject complained that it felt like he was actually retrieving previous experiences from memory, not just finding them familiar.
“Most cases like this occur as a side effect associated with epileptic seizures or dementia.
“However, in this instance it appears as though the episodes of déjà vu could be linked to anxiety causing mistimed neuronal firing in the brain, which causes more déjà vu and in turn brings about more anxiety.”