The Cotardwaan Or Cotard’s Syndrome: Symptoms And Causes
We often hear how people use the words “dead inside”. That is how they describe someone who has lost all motivation to live. However, this is only an expression. It doesn’t mean that the person actually dies. Yet there is a terrible mental illness called Cotardwaan that in a sense makes this expression real.
The Cotardwaan is also known as “the denial delirium.” Most people who suffer from it believe that they are dead or decomposing.
The Cotardwaan
The Cotardwaan is a mental disorder in which the affected person perceives himself as non-existent. So they can believe that they are living outside reality or are just dead.
When someone suffering from Cotard delusion looks at themselves, they believe they are dead. They may even believe that their bodies are decomposing.
A person with the Cotard delusion believes that their mind and body are on different planes of existence. As the person’s body decomposes, his mind exists in an alternate reality and the mind lives a separate life. These beliefs can lead to unpredictable and strange behaviors.
Jules Cotard and the Cotard delusion
Jules Cotard first described this delusion in the 19th century. One of his patients was a woman who believed she was stuck halfway between heaven and hell. For that reason, she felt that earthly needs such as food and sleep were completely irrelevant.
The Cotardwaan is very complicated. Psychologists do not know why it manifests itself. However, they do believe it is related to how the brain works. It is specifically linked to the way the brain processes information.
Some experts believe there is a disconnect between the areas of the brain associated with facial recognition (the fusiform gyrus) and the areas associated with emotional processing (the amygdala and limbic system).
Thus, the people who suffer from this disorder are able to properly process the information they receive from their environment. The problem is that the emotional reactions that this information causes don’t make sense to them.
The denial of existence is one of the most striking symptoms of this disorder. Other possible symptoms include hallucinations, anxiety, depression, delirium and the inability to relate to others.
The affected individuals may also believe that they are immortal or have no blood. They may also feel like there are worms under their skin and their bodies decomposing.
People cut off from reality
A person who suffers from the Cotardwaan lives in a different reality. Yet another important feature of this condition is that the mind of the affected person distorts almost every thought.
This applies to information about themselves as well as about their environment. For that reason, a person with the Cotardwaan may also decide, for example, to stop eating or drinking.
The disorder causes them to live in limbo. This obscurity lies between the heightened existential level of the mind and the empty, alienating shell that is the person’s body.
Of course, this can vary from person to person. The severity of the disorder can be different in level in different people.
As you can see, this condition can have serious consequences. That is because a person who suffers from it stops worrying about his well-being. Experts therefore also recommend that you see a specialist immediately if you have it.
