Oh no, it's deja vu all over again...and again

摘要

Have you read this before? A 23-year-old man from the UK almost certainly feels like he has - he's the first person to report persistent deja vu stemming from anxiety rather than any obvious neurological disorder. Nobody knows exactly how or why deja vu happens, but for most of us it is rare. Some people experience it more often, as a side effect associated with epileptic seizures or dementia. Now, researchers have discovered the first person with what they call "psychogenic deja vu" - where the cause appears to be psychological. The man's episodes began just after he started university, a period when he felt anxious and was also experiencing obsessive compulsions. As time went on, his deja vu became more and more prolonged, and then fairly continuous after he tried LSD. Now, he avoids television and radio, and finds newspapers distressing as the content feels familiar.