Alive but dead? People who suffer from this strange and unusual disease are convinced that they have died and see themselves as undead or zombies. The introspection of their illness is so deep that they claim to feel that they have no blood, no brain, or organs and that they even smell the smell of their rotting flesh.
This delusion, related to hypochondria, starts with the denial of existence, first of everything that surrounds them and, later, of their own existence. Among the most common symptoms are: depression, self-mutilation, suicidal thoughts, analgesia or absence of pain, the belief that your body is dead and decomposing because of it or even that you are immortal.
This sudden-onset illness is common in the most severe depressions , whether psychotic or delusional, and can be found in other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and psychosis.
Where does the name of this disease come from?
Jules Cotard was the French neurologist who discovered this syndrome, initially baptizing it as “delusion of denial” in 1880. Cotard presented his finding at a conference in Paris, through the case of a patient who denied the existence of God and also of the devil, not She saw the need to eat and denied the existence of some parts of her body as well, convinced that she could not die naturally.
This disorder has not yet been accepted as a disease , so it does not appear in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diseases (DSM) nor has it been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).
