Cotard Delusion

Introduction

Ever happened, someone said that he/she is dead and tried acting on the same theory. Sounds funny or psychological right? But actually they actually believe that their body is putrefying, Their any vital internal organ is absent and they are walking corpse. This is something weird but is a rare disorder in which more than 55% of patients think they are immortal.

Definition-

It was named after Jules Cotard, a French neurologist, who explained the rare disease.

This is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which the patient accepts that he/she is immortal and are walking dead whose vital organ is missing. They also believe that their body is putrefying and if their life ends, it would not be a natural

death.
The problem lies when, when the patient starts working in the same theory about them being dead. It may be their stoppage in eating food or results in any suicidal activity.

Signs and symptoms-

• Their psyche accepts that they are dead, non-existent, or putrefying.

• Nihilism: the patient starts to believe that nothing has any value or loss of sense of selfless.

• The patient suffering from this disorder might also be the patient of depression

• This also causes anxiety, hallucination, hypochondria.

• The patient is generally filled with a feeling of guilt and pre occupationally may end up ending their lives.

Causes-

This is generally found in individual in the age group of 50 and in children or teenagers, these are present with bipolar disorder, in women this occurs due to depression.

There is a malfunction in part of the brain known as Fusiform gyrus and amygdala, whose function is to identify faces and is related to emotions respectively.

However, these disorder is also related to some other disorders such as-

• Migraine

• Parkinsonism

• Stroke

• Epilepsy

• Dementia

Case study-

• One lady said, she believed that there is an absence of some vital organ, and loss of blood has caused her to be dead. She was immortal and no other thing could kill her.

On accepting this theory she left eating anything and ultimately was found to be dead due to starvation.

• In another case, A 20-year-old, male patient was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he described his feeling, as he felt his liver and stomach was distorted and his heart doesn't beat.

Treatment-

Treatment of this disorder is not known but once when diagnosed, they are treated with an antipsychotic, antidepressant, mood stabilizer and psychotherapy.