Final Research Project: Cotard’s Syndrome
Background: I was first introduced to Cotard’s Syndrome when it grabbed my attention when I read Anil Ananthaswamy’s book titled The Man Who Wasn’t There. The stories that were described in his book allowed me to gain an inside look on people with this rare disorder that ruins one’s perception of self. Cotard’s Syndrome or Cotard Delusion is a mental illness that leaves the patient believing that they are, in broad terms, dead. They may feel like they don’t exist or never existed, are missing organs or parts of their body, are putrefying, and paradoxically are immortal. These delusions can lead the patient to dying of starvation like the first recorded case made by Jules Cotard or they can soon overcome …show more content…
Her case was called by Jules Cotard’s as “The Delirium of Negation” which is a syndrome of varied severity. It seems that the origin of Cotard’s Syndrome is still a mystery. Looking at situations laid out in “The Man Who Wasn’t There” the majority of patients developed this illness through a traumatic experience. Adam Zeman attempted suicide and during his recovery “he formed the belief that his brain had died.” (4), another case involved a 15 year old girl named May who experienced severe depression through some family issues and soon developed many delusions and soon was diagnosed and treated for Cotard’s Syndrome. Another theory of where Cotard’s Syndrome comes from is from a malfunctioning region in the brain. It appears to be a misfiring in the fusiform face areas of the brain and also in the amygdala. The patient’s brain isn’t recognizing faces correctly and isn’t applying emotions to those recognitions which results in a complete disconnect from themselves and everyone else. Both of these theories of the origin of Cotard’s Syndrome are backed up by a lot of evidence so it's hard to give a definite answer of where it manifests. For treatment, antipsychotic medicine has been proven to assist and electroconvulsive therapy also works but it’s not used much anymore. Anil Ananthaswamy also said “Cotard’s
Background: I was first introduced to Cotard’s Syndrome when it grabbed my attention when I read Anil Ananthaswamy’s book titled The Man Who Wasn’t There. The stories that were described in his book allowed me to gain an inside look on people with this rare disorder that ruins one’s perception of self. Cotard’s Syndrome or Cotard Delusion is a mental illness that leaves the patient believing that they are, in broad terms, dead. They may feel like they don’t exist or never existed, are missing organs or parts of their body, are putrefying, and paradoxically are immortal. These delusions can lead the patient to dying of starvation like the first recorded case made by Jules Cotard or they can soon overcome …show more content…
Her case was called by Jules Cotard’s as “The Delirium of Negation” which is a syndrome of varied severity. It seems that the origin of Cotard’s Syndrome is still a mystery. Looking at situations laid out in “The Man Who Wasn’t There” the majority of patients developed this illness through a traumatic experience. Adam Zeman attempted suicide and during his recovery “he formed the belief that his brain had died.” (4), another case involved a 15 year old girl named May who experienced severe depression through some family issues and soon developed many delusions and soon was diagnosed and treated for Cotard’s Syndrome. Another theory of where Cotard’s Syndrome comes from is from a malfunctioning region in the brain. It appears to be a misfiring in the fusiform face areas of the brain and also in the amygdala. The patient’s brain isn’t recognizing faces correctly and isn’t applying emotions to those recognitions which results in a complete disconnect from themselves and everyone else. Both of these theories of the origin of Cotard’s Syndrome are backed up by a lot of evidence so it's hard to give a definite answer of where it manifests. For treatment, antipsychotic medicine has been proven to assist and electroconvulsive therapy also works but it’s not used much anymore. Anil Ananthaswamy also said “Cotard’s