A new psychosis has been discovered by the BBMI (British Board of Mental Illness).

Hoffmans Syndrome is rarely noticed by those who suffer from it and not unlike Schitzophrenia it manifests itself in many ways. The disorder has a series of subcatagories, such as Egotistical, Intellectual, Attention Deficient and Auditory.

All of these problems are related by virtue of the sufferer showing intolerance to those in the service industry. The basic characteristics of Hoffmans Syndrome are comparable to Tourettes Syndrome and is likely to be related to it in some form. This increased egocentrism and lack of empathy combines with the circumstances of the inappropriate behaviour to link the basic subtypes into one syndrome. No sufferer displays behaviour exclusively attatched to one subtype. We are no nearer to discovering the cause, but one of the most effective cures is for the sufferer to work in an area where they are most abusive. This is not always successful though, in some cases this only serves to increase the problem. Due to this solution it can be inferred that the Syndrome is not biologically based, but this is not necessarily true.

The Egotistical manifestation is one of the most common, occuring in at least 60% of sufferers. Those with Egotistical Hoffmans show little understanding of rules and regulations, they will also have the delusion that they are always right. They will, for instance, try to gain access to a shop by pulling on a locked door. They seem to have no concept of the word "Closed". They will also try to persuade the workers in store to let them in. The exact method varies between sufferers, some use direct threats, usually demonstrating their inability to understand rules; using, for example, "I'll complain to the manager" when they are denied access to a shop. Some try pleading behaviour, usually combined with the phrase "I'll just be a few minutes". Others seem to behave as if they are suffering from Tourettes, producing outbursts of vulgar language and threats of physical violence.

There is evidence that it is not restricted to adults. in the 10-18 age groups there is a predominance of this problem, an inability to understand such concepts as you must be 16 to buy cigarettes and 18 to drink alchol, this applies more to the purchase/hire of films where they seem to think the catagory on the box is a guideline rather than a legal limit.

The Intellectual Manifestation consists of about 22% of the sufferers. The main symptoms constitute delusionary behaviour. This is of a dipolar nature, delusions of superiority but also delusions that the other is not only feeble of mind, but is in awe of their intellect, or interested in what is being said. Those suffering from this will tend to talk slowly and explain every single step of what is wanted. They will not accept that the other has more expertise in any field, including the one in which the other is working.

Those with attention deficit related Hoffmans thend to be indistinguishable from a "normal" person, except that as soon as the ask a question or get served they will walk off or start talking to someone else. They refuse to, for example, accept there is a queue behind them and suddenly remember something, thus leaving the queue to wait whilst they go and get what they wanted. This and Auditory Hoffmans only differ because with auditory Hoffmans the sufferer appears to be listening, but does not actually hear anything that is said.