Cotard’s Syndrome: Clinical Case Presentation and Literature Review
Journal Title: International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal - Year 2014, Vol 2, Issue 6
Abstract
In 1880 French neurologist Jules Cotard described a condition characterized by delusion of negation (nihilistic delusion) in a melancholia context. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in Cotard’s syndrome. The most prominent symptoms of Cotard’s Syndrome are depressive mood, nihilistic delusions concerning one’s own body and one’s own existence, delusions of guilt, immortality and hypochondria. The aim of the present paper is to review literature evidences concerning Cotard’s syndrome and to describe a clinical case keeping in the background the recent trends on its psychopathological implications. In the clinical study, the following sequence of stages emerged: the dissociative side, expressed as a loss of body-mind cohesion; the ‘mixed’ mood disorder, with depressive-manic episodes, and a persecutory background, all coexisting in the anguish of the idea of a body falling apart, the anguish of a descent towards the abyss of melancholia and/or an ascent to unlimited euphoria, characteristic of an “uncommon alarm” for loss of Self cohesion.
Authors and Affiliations
Domenico De Berardis, Alessandro Carano, Marilde Cavuto, Carla Ortolani, Giampaolo Perna, Monica Mazza, Michele Fornaro, Felice Iasevoli, Giovanni Martinotti, Massimo Di Giannantonio
Keywords
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- EP ID EP241621
- DOI 10.9734/INDJ/2014/7215
- Views 132
- Downloads 0
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