Lightwave comments on Are You Anosognosic? - Less Wrong

17 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 19 July 2009 04:35AM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (65)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: Lightwave 19 July 2009 05:03:38PM *  6 points [-]

I wonder if the paradoxical undressing effect is a form of anosognosia.

Paradoxical undressing is when the person removes warm clothing while in a state of hypothermia, which further increases heat loss. Because they are suffering from the cold and their body temperature is below the safe threshold, it seems incongruous that they would be removing warm clothing and causing themselves to become even colder.

To be sure, the phenomenon of paradoxical undressing is an enigma counter to expected behavior. With their core temperature below 90 degrees F, hypothermia sufferers frequently undress themselves. Urban victims of hypothermia that are found in a state of undress are often thought to be victims of assault.

Paradoxical undressers remove their warm clothing even as they are freezing to death.