Categorizations Of Cotard's Syndrome

The human brain is probably the most complex organ known to man. Its is the central organ of the human nervous system and it weighs around 2.6 lbs (1.2 – 1.4 kg). The brain is the most important part of our bodies; it helps us read, talk, learn, remember, move, and even breathe. Now and then parts of the brain may get damage, or suffer from irregularities, prohibiting the brain to carry out its functions properly. The brain is mainly divided in four lobes: frontal, occipital, temporal and perietal. If any of these were to be impared, the person would suffer major consequences. For instance, if the occipital lobe is damaged, one may loose his/her vision. Or if the perietal lobe suffers an injury the senses of your body will no longer be of
use.
Within the already mentioned lobes of the brain lay deeper sections, each with its own specific function. If they were to be damaged the consequences could be of phsycological nature instead of a physical one. One of the phsycological disorders could be Cotard’s Syndrome, also known as Cotard’s Delusion or Walking Corpse Syndrome.
Cotard’s Syndrome is an extremely rare neurophysiciatric condition in which the patients truly believe they’re dead, do not exist, are immortal or are missing vital organs and/or blood. Cotard’s is characterized by anxiosness, delusions, extreme depression, ideas of rejection and insensitivity to pain. The syndrome was first discovered by Jules Cotard (1840-1889), a neuorologist from France, in 1880.
Jules Cotard described the syndrome in a case of a 43 year old woman who affirmed she had no brain, nerves, heart, stomach, nor intestines, “there’s only skin and bones of a decomposing body…she has no soul”(translation from Cotard 1880). These symptoms led Cotard to categorize this delusion as a new type of phsycotic depression, lypémanie. Later, he changed the name to délire des negations. And then, in 1887, Séglas, a french phsyciatrist, introduced the term Cotard’s Syndrome.
There are three categorizations of Cotard’s: Pshycotic Depression, Cotard’s Type I, and Cotard’s Type II.
Pshycotic Depression may cause strong delusions, depression, hallucinations and even social impairement. When a patient suffers from Cotard’s Syndrome Type I they tend to experience multiple delusions. Patients with Cotard’s Syndrome Type II suffer from anxiety, delusions, hallucinations (auditory) and depression; this is also the most common.
Biologically speaking, there is no clear problem with the people that suffer from Cotard’s. But there are some possible psychobiological mechanisms that could influence a patient with this delusion. For example, this contorted truth could be caused by a breakdown in a zone of the mind called the fusiform gyrus, which perceives faces. Or it could be an overactivation of the amygdala and inhibition of left prefrontal cortex. It could be caused by damage to the prefrontal cortex; or damage of temporoparietal areas of the right cerebral hemisphere.
Medically speaking Cotard’s Syndrome could be caused by multiple factors. It could be associated with syphillis, epilepsy, migranes, high fevers, multiple sclerosis, ccerebral infracition, cerebral trauma, brain tumors, brain injury, Parkinson’s diesease, arachnoid cyst, herpetic and non-herpetic encephalitis, cerebral arterio-venous malformations, superior saggital sinus thrombosis, and even complications of heart
tranplants.
Psycologically, Cotard’s could be caused by severe depression, melancholia, post-traumatic-stress disorder, mental retardation and there’s been one case of a woman with bipolarism.
In terms of it being associated with othe phenomenological descriptions, there have been some cases where patients with Cotard’s Syndrome also suffer from hydrophobia, lycanthropy (when a patient believes he/she is a wolf or other nonhuman animal), Capgras Delusion (patient believes loved one has beel replaced with an identical impostor) or Fregolis Delusion, Odysseus Syndrome (patient believes loved ones have died), depersonalization disorder, catatonia, koro-like syndrome, and voluntary
starvation.
Cotard's Delusion is a type of delusional psychosis, much like bipolarism or schizophrenia, so the symptoms tend to be more mental, than physical. Individuals with the condition can purportedly start to pull back from others and disregard individual cleanliness and physical wellbeing. Some one that suffers from the dieses might be depressed and suffer from other psychological disorders. The patient might be isolated, malnurished and paranoid.
Stephen Buckley once said: “Cotard’s syndrome is an extremely rare type of delusion that is usually associated with denial of self-existence.The person experiencing the delusion might believe that they are dead, dying, parts of their body do not exist or they do not need to do activities to keep themselves alive, such as drink, eat, basic hygiene.Lots of people have beliefs that many other people don’t share. But a delusion is usually a false belief that no-one else shares.”
Cotard’s syndrome in reality affects few people of the population. The group of people who are affected by this condition are generally older men and women. People who suffer from Cotard’s, are usually in their late 40’s, early 50’s, but there have been cases of young people suffering from the disease. One can say that this condition typically affects those suffering from depression. The majority of the elderly who have the symptoms of the disorder present cases of depression ,anxiety and mental disturbances. There is evidence that cotard’s delusion seems to