Disorders That Totally Mess With Your Perception of Reality

Urbach-Wiethe Disease

Ever think it would be nice to be fearless? Patient SM, who suffers from Urbach-Wiethe disease, experiences just that. The disease causes both of her amygdalae (believed by many to be the fear centers of the brain) to selectively deteriorate. To test whether SM’s fearlessness applied to a variety of situations, psychologists took the woman to the haunted house at Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky. When she was going through the house, SM was not scared whatsoever. Instead, she smiled and laughed at the haunted house.