Whats it called when you spend to much time in darkness and go crazy?

Question

I went caving recently and the guide said that the bloke who discovered this cave was stuck in there for 3 days with out light and when his brother found him he was lieing on the ground and he though he was leaning against a wall????

Answer 1

While long periods spent in darkness can cause certain biological and psychological difficulties, the darkness *alone* would not cause dementia.  Of course, other preexisting conditions might be exacerbated; and the result might appear to be dementia.

Biologically, there would be only modest difficulty, especially if a source of vitamin D were available.  Additionally, one's circadian [Thanks, survivor]rhythm would suffer.  For more on the circadian rhythm, please see:

http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/922567...

Psychologically, if you had no light and, thus, no external source of time, other cycles might break down causing waking and sleeping for odd periods of time.

Remember, the sightless, particularly those who lose sight after having it, do not "go crazy" *because* of the darkness.

Answer 2

I wouldn't say thinking he was leaning against a wall meant that he was crazy, just disorientated. He was probably very tired after trying to find his way out  and thought he'd just lean against a wall for a while and then fell asleep, woke thinking he was still leaning against a wall and was then discovered.

You seem inordinately surprised that he was so confused!?!

It's "circadian" rhythms retroray.

Answer 3

comes under the term  "Sensory deprivation"

when you remove external stimuli (like light, etc) it can cause psychological effects

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_dep...