Many fascinating and important psychological disorders are either omitted from our current diagnostic systems or rarely covered during graduate or medical training. As a result, most mental health students and trainees are never taught to identify, diagnose, or treat them. This lack of attention has real-world consequences not only for patients, but for basic science as well.
Unusual and Rare Psychological Disorders collects and synthesizes the scientific and clinical literatures for 21 lesser-known conditions. The coverage is broad, ranging from exploding head syndrome and...

Humans throughout history have described a peculiar state between wakefulness and sleep during which they are consciously aware of their surroundings, but physically paralyzed. Sleep paralysis is also commonly accompanied by high levels of fear, feelings of suffocation, and hallucinations (i.e., waking dreams). Early interpretations of this event were that it was an actual attack by malevolent and supernatural entities such as demons, ghosts, or witches. Some of these beliefs persist to the present day in the form of nocturnal visitations by extraterrestrials and shadow people....