Walking Corpse Syndrome: a Disorder Where People Think They Are Dead

There are many rare mental disorders in the world. Cotard's Syndrome or Walking Corpse syndrome is one of them. Cotord's Syndrome is when a person thinks that they have died, lost their soul, or lost a vital organ, when in fact they have lost nothing. They may even think they do not have blood.

This disorder has been linked to many other disorders including Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Other than mental illness this disorder can come about when there is a problem with the persons brain, such as an injury. Some people with this disorder may feel immortal. Although this feeling is very rare among those that have Cotord's Syndrome. They may test their own mortality by attempting suicide. So you can see that this disorder is very dangerous to the person who has it.

This disorder was named after Jules Cotard, a French neurologist. He first discovered this disorder as well as had a patient with it. He explained in a lecture that she did not believe in god or the devil and did not believe she had certain body parts. She also didn't think that she had to eat. There are a few other cases that are documented throughout history, this one being in the 1800's. There are a few cases more recently, such as the one in 1994. A man thought that he did not have a stomach, thus he was starving himself. There is even more recent cases in the 2000's.

Since this disorder is so rare the right treatments for it are unknown. Many psychiatrists have tried antipsychotic therapy, but this does not seem to work. There have been four cases however that have been helped using electroconvulsive therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy is When electrodes are attached to the top of a persons head and electricity is administered to the brain, to cause a seizure. This is also used in very severe cases of depression.

As you can see there is still much to be learned from this disorder. Since Walking Corpse Syndrome is so rare psychologists and psychiatrists know little about it. Further research in this area can better determine if the therapy used today is the most effective treatment available. Although Electroconvulsive therapy seems to help it can also damage patients. This kind of treatment leads to memory loss in some cases severe memory loss. Although rare this strange disorder is very real to those who have it.