Walking Corpse Syndrome, also known as Cotard Delusions, is described as a rare neuropsychiatric condition in which affected people feel as if they are dead or dying. It’s certainly not ideal to feel such a mood while still alive.
What is Walking Corpse Syndrome?
Known as the Walking Corpse Syndrome, this intriguing disorder includes delusions that make a person believe they are dead or lack certain characteristics of a living person, such as organs or blood. In addition to having a profound effect on a person’s mental state, brain scans have been found to be extremely abnormal.
The Walking Corpse Syndrome was first described in 1882 by Dr. It was described by Jules Cotard, and that’s where his other name, Cotard Delusions, comes from. Cotard characterized this condition as any of several delusions that cause a person to believe that they are missing organs or body parts, that they no longer have blood or soul, or that they are completely dead.
This is thought to be an extremely rare condition, especially in the modern era, but is most common among patients with pre-existing and severe depression. Most of the reports come across as single case studies of people who self-reported to be “dead.”
Known examples of this situation include a 43-year-old woman named “Mademoiselle X” in 1880, a Scottish man who believed she died in 1996 and South Africa was hell, and Helen Graham, who was named “the first dead man interviewed” in New Scientist in 2013. exists.
Causes of Walking Corpse Syndrome
While the exact cause of Walking Corpse Syndrome is unknown, it is thought that it may share some neurological features with Capgras Syndrome, where people cannot identify close friends or relatives. Both situations center around the loss of emotional feedback in response to visual stimuli that can trigger feelings of derealization.
It’s possible that illness or injury can damage areas of the brain involved in this emotional feedback, leading to feelings of dissociation that can worsen to feeling dead. However, it is not currently possible to draw any firm conclusions about this rare and unusual condition, as there have been very few historical case studies reporting so many different symptoms, possible triggers, and treatment outcomes.
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