Cotard's syndrome and its influence on the human psyche. The article will provide recommendations for getting rid of this severe mental illness. Cotard syndrome is a mental illness in which a person suffers from nihilistic beliefs of a delusional nature. The feeling of emptiness around, rotting of any organ in the absence of such a factor, positioning your body exclusively in the form of a corpse with a living soul are the main complaints of people with such a serious pathology. Fortunately, the syndrome is rare.
What is Cotard Syndrome
In this case, we are talking about a syndrome that implies a person's denial of obvious things. For the first time in 1880, Jules Cotard, who in France was considered a famous neurologist, spoke about such a problem. It was he who characterized this disease - zombie syndrome - as one of the manifestations of delirium.
The analyst based his conclusions on denial, depression of an alarming nature, depersonalization (rejection of one's own “I”) and fantastic thoughts about the global destruction of humanity in people with a non-standard vision of reality. In psychiatry, this distortion of consciousness is regarded as a chronic paranoid disorder.
The reasons for the development of Cotard syndrome
Pathology of this kind is often formed for unknown reasons. Doctors can only assume the origins of the Cotard syndrome and, in most cases, voice their versions as follows:
- Bipolar disorder … This diagnosis is more understandable to the common man as a manic-depressive psychosis. With the course of such a disease, a person often does not feel like a full-fledged person.
- Schizophrenia … This kind of mental disorder manifests itself in fantastic delusions and social dysfunction. People with such heightened suspicion often claim that some organ in their body has simply disappeared. At the same time, they definitely believe in what they say, and do not give up their beliefs even after passing tests in a hospital and conducting appropriate examinations.
- A brain tumor … With neoplasms in a person in this area (benign or malignant), no good can be expected. The growth of such tumors can completely change the way people look at the events taking place in their lives, distorting reality beyond recognition.
- Multiple sclerosis … Some subjects believe that this disease occurs exclusively in old age. Cotard's syndrome can appear with multiple sclerosis, even among young people who, in the course of its course, experience all the manifestations of depression against the background of decreased vision, intelligence and sexual dysfunction.
- Typhoid fever … With this disease, people begin to consider themselves walking corpses. Doctors see the reason for this phenomenon in the negative impact of an infectious disease on the human brain.
People with Cotard syndrome are usually adults. At the same time, statistics indicate that more and more cases of the formation of this pathology in people under 25 years old. In addition, experts have still not given an answer to the question of why this disease is most diagnosed in women.
Manifestations of Cotard syndrome in humans
It is difficult to miss a person with such a problem, because his thoughts are really paranoid delusions. He usually behaves in the following way, which in any case causes shock in adequate people:
- Denying your own existence … In Cotard syndrome, the individual simply abstracts from his body shell. Sometimes he confidently declares that he is the world's greatest criminal and villain who needs to be isolated from society.
- Confidence in your own death … “I am a living corpse” is a favorite expression for people with Cotard syndrome. At the same time, they are not joking, but really consider themselves the walking dead.
- Declaration of absence of some organs … With such a pathology, a person may insist that he does not have a heart or that his stomach has rotted. To explain the impossibility of the affirmed is unrealistic, because even the ultrasound data will not prove anything to him. The patient will only begin to believe that all this is set up and does not reflect the real state of affairs.
- Body decay statement … In general, this is almost the same symptom as the previous one, but in this case the person considers himself not just a dead man, but a long decomposed corpse.
- Reduced pain syndrome … You will never hear complaints about feeling unwell from such people. They endure pain quite easily, because "the dead do not hurt anything."
- Confidence in organ enlargement … If a patient with such a diagnosis does not think that his insides have rotted, then he insists on the fact of their phenomenal size.
- Statements about their infectiousness … People with such a serious pathology consider themselves carriers of syphilis and even AIDS. When talking with someone, they warn that they are contagious and should be kept away from them.
- Extraordinary actions … Jumping off a bridge or running in front of a speeding locomotive is the norm for a person with Cotard syndrome. He sometimes considers himself immortal, and it is pointless to discuss with him in a constructive dialogue. Also, some had an incredible craving for spending time in the cemetery, sleeping on graves and other inappropriate behavior.
- Suicidal thoughts … With a pronounced depression with a similar disease, people can lay hands on themselves. This usually occurs against the background of schizophrenia and manic visions, when otherworldly voices beckon a person to the next world.
In a particularly severe form of the manifestation of Cotard's syndrome, people begin to think that the whole world has disappeared (delirium of enormity). Life around them ceases to exist, because their reason is really clouded.
Varieties of Cotard syndrome
After long studies of such a pathology, experts have identified three types of this disease:
- Psychotic depression … With it, a person has a constant feeling of guilt, due to which a depressed state arises. In addition, the patient hears voices, which is a manifestation of auditory hallucinations. With such symptoms of anxiety, people begin to literally rave, which cannot go unnoticed by their immediate environment.
- Manic hypochondria … During this course of the disease, there are signs of severe and prolonged depression. However, at the same time, people have a nihilistic delusion with a desire to see significant health problems in themselves.
- Suicidal syndrome … With him, a person is delusional and prone to pronounced hallucinations. In parallel, he has a mania for immortality, which can push him to try to shorten his life in order to show humanity his invulnerability.
The short film "Chasing Cotard's Syndrome" clearly shows the first type of this disease. The main character lost his beloved wife Elizabeth, began to feel like a stranger in the surrounding reality and began to see something that does not exist (the deceased wife).
Features of the treatment of Cotard syndrome
Such a pathology sometimes reaches such monstrous proportions that it surprises even experienced psychiatrists with its manifestations. An example is one patient who simply begged the doctor to throw his dead body into the city dump for the crows to eat. Observing such a model of behavior, one involuntarily wants to shout to the patient that he urgently needs to save his life.
Medicines for Cotard syndrome
Psychotherapists are often unable to cope with this kind of problem in their patients. With this disease, it is most often recommended to take certain psychotropic drugs of active action and according to a special prescription:
- Antidepressants … In a condition where a person becomes an inanimate object, it is worth listening to the advice of specialists. In most cases, they prescribe indiscriminate and selective inhibitors. These include Nialamide or Iprazide, which are able to bring the patient out of a state of deep depression (tricycloid antidepressant). In some cases, taking pills alone is indispensable. In a hospital setting, patients are prescribed injections in the form of specific antidepressants.
- Antipsychotics … They are used to correct the distorted consciousness of especially severe patients. Under the strict supervision of the attending physician, they are appointed if the patient has delirium, automatism and hallucinations. Moditen and Fluorophenazine have proven to be excellent in the treatment of people who suffer from schizophrenia.
- Tranquilizers … This kind of psychotropic drugs should also be used exclusively according to the scheme determined by the doctor. They have antipsychotic effects and block some receptors in the brain. With deep depression, Sibazon, Xanax and Phenazepam are effective.
Quite often, such treatment is accompanied by electroshock. It is with the help of it that the nerve endings, which are in a kind of hibernation, begin to function in the same mode.
Complementary treatments for Cotard syndrome
In addition to drug therapy, if you want to get rid of this pathology, the following methods are used to return to normal life:
- Strict restrictions … Psychologists categorically do not recommend viewing thrillers, action films and horror films by such people. The desire to get acquainted with such films should be replaced by obtaining positive emotions with the help of family serials. You can also devote your free time to comedy projects, after which the desire to be depressed will significantly decrease.
- Diet regulation … In this case, we are not talking about a diet when you have to lose extra pounds. You need to diversify your diet with chocolate, which works great as an antidepressant. Cheese, nuts, bananas, seaweed and eggs are also useful.
- Help from friends … Instead of wanting to visit the cemetery in your free time, you should visit a nightclub. Quite often, Cotard syndrome affects people in adulthood, so they will not be interested in such gatherings. In this case, regular theme parties can be organized to which close friends and relatives should be invited.
- Abstraction method … With this method, it is really possible to get rid of the problem when choosing a particular idol. From the state of a living corpse, the projection of your attention to some famous person will help you to get out. You can write her a letter on social networks, because such a gesture of despair will definitely be better than the monstrous manifestations of the described pathology.
- Rejection of bad habits … Cotard syndrome is most pronounced in alcoholics or nicotine lovers. First of all, you need to get rid of the main problem, and only then deal with its side, but very significant consequences.
- Buying a pet … One psychiatrist once voiced the fact that the cat jumped out of the window when its owner fell into the Kotar state. At the same time, the animal did not live long next to a sick person. Otherwise, the four-legged friend will help the victim of this pathology to get out of the crisis state if it is acquired at the age of a kitten or puppy.
- Home design … To demolish everything and suddenly is the best way to solve this problem. Only against the background of cardinal actions, the patient will understand that negative changes are taking place in his life, up to a divorce or a complete absence of personal life. You can also arrange "shock therapy", dramatically changing not only the environment, but also the city, country.
What is Cotard's syndrome - watch the video:
Cotard's syndrome in psychiatry is usually voiced as a severe mental illness. In most cases, it is difficult to correct, because we are talking about a serious deformation of consciousness. Sometimes people, instead of traditional rest, prefer to lie on the graves or rest in the crypts. However, in psychiatry, there have been cases when patients entered a state of stable remission even with such a pathology.
