This Rare Medical Condition Makes You Love Everyone

This interview introduces us to the Williams syndrome, which is often referred to as the opposite of autism, and which affects people by making them overly friendly, wanting to hug people all the time and love everyone unconditionally.

Jennifer Latson, who wrote a book called ‘The Boy Who Loved Too Much: A True Story Of Pathological Friendliness', talks about one of the patients in her book, about the biology of the syndrome, how it was discovered and how it manifests in the majority of the ones afflicted, about how different cultures respond to someone having this syndrome, and about what we, as a species, can learn from people who suffer from Williams.

That last part, above all, I find most important, and the author puts it in words very eloquently:

“It’s amazing to see people with Williams approach everyone with this basic belief in the goodness of the other person. For me personally, as an introvert who is more wary of new people than average, watching Eli approach people so openly was uncomfortable because I’m thinking, 'Oh my gosh, you’re taking such a risk, you’re in so much danger!' But 99 percent of the time, the person would respond positively. Watching him taking risks that I would never take, and it turns out OK, that changed me a lot [...] I did learn that you can be more open and vulnerable. And that you can gain from it.”