Understanding Cotard’s Delusion: The Rare Condition Where People Believe They Are Dead скачать в хорошем качестве

Understanding Cotard’s Delusion: The Rare Condition Where People Believe They Are Dead

In this episode, I unravel Cotard’s Delusion—the chilling “walking corpse” syndrome and the minds it haunts. I trace its origins to French neurologist Jules Cotard, who in Paris in 1880 described “le délire des négations”: a patient, Mademoiselle X, who denied having a brain, nerves, or entrails and insisted she was already dead. She refused to eat and ultimately died of starvation. I argue Cotard’s Delusion—often called the “walking corpse” syndrome—reveals how fragile the self can be, blending nihilistic conviction with chilling certainty. 🕯️🧠 I explore how this rare condition surfaces alongside severe depression, psychosis, or after neurological injury, with reports implicating right parietal and frontal circuits and overlaps with Capgras misidentification. I examine theories that the brain’s interoceptive signals misfire against a damaged self-model, producing a literal belief in nonexistence. In my view, the most consistent treatments have been ECT and combinations of antidepressants and antipsychotics. 🧩 Subscribe to The Obscured for weekly deep dives. #mysteries #psychology #neuroscience #history