Cotard's Syndrome
The world of psychology remains an ever-growing force, affecting humankind constantly with the capability to shape or change a person's overall cognition and behavior. Frequently, psychological disorders or conditions arise due to the normal anatomy or physiology of the brain being altered, manipulating or even magnifying the average person's state of mind. Upon delving into the expansive realm of psychological conditions, I had discovered a rather unique condition that evidently leads its victims to believe they are no longer among the living: Cotard's Syndrome (AKA Walking Corpse Syndrome). In short, it goes without saying that the grotesque delusions of this syndrome are undeniably captivating, which drew me in with
…show more content…
By utilizing various elements of information, such as the scan results and the symptoms, I find that I am able to apply the knowledge acquired in my recent psychology studies regarding the functions of brain parts and produce likely theories. For instance, the areas of hypermetabolic activity in the brain found in the PET scans, when affected by disease, are almost entirely affecting normal functionality. Since some of the scans had identified hypermetabolic activity in the frontal-parietal-temporal cortex associative circuit, basal ganglia, and the cerebellum, I would assume that, in most cases, the following functions had been affected by the abnormality: generating emotions, perception, stabilizing and controlling voluntary movements, social behaviors, ability to focus and concentrate on a single stimulus, awareness of body parts, etc. Considering the characteristics presented by patients with CS, I agree with the researchers' findings that the scan may offer some feasible evidence for the symptoms associated. The research market is rather scarce to further investigate Cortard's due to its scarce prevalence; however, I believe that the treatment options provided have offered a great deal of aid to those people with Cotard's. Individually, I appreciated the psychological phenomena of Walking Corpse Syndrome and how professionals have utilized technology and medical advancements to further dissect its etiology. Perhaps, someday, medicine will have the ability to cure people with the various psychological disorders that may act as a gateway to Walking Corpse Syndrome so that we may let it truly be laid to
The social context influencing Edith’s diagnosis and care began in the emergency room. Depending on the hospital and the time of day there is not always a radiologist available to read CT scans for the emergency room doctors so often they are left to interpret the scans themselves. Unfortunately, this may have been the case for Edith’s scan, therefore eliminating a positive social influence to help check for errors (pg.97). The ER doctor would have benefited from getting another perspective on the scan. Another physician may have focused more on the basal ganglia infract and less on the deterioration of Edith’s white matter of her brain.
Waardenburg Syndrome is a group of genetic conditions that can lead to hearing loss and changes in the color of hair, skin, and eyes (Genetics 2013). Cases of Waardenburg Syndrome are not very common. There are different types of symptoms of the syndrome. Waardenburg Syndrome can be inherited either on an autosomal dominant pattern or autosomal recessive pattern (Calendar 2013). The ways of diagnosing Waardenburg Syndrome include certain tests to detect the disorder. While Waardenburg Syndrome cannot be cured, treatments can be given to lessen the effects. Like other diseases, Waardenburg Syndrome has certain symptoms, inheritance patterns, diagnosis and treatments.
The patient exhibited cues of overall withdrawal from daily activities, notably those he regularly enjoyed like “cooking for his girlfriend and caring for the house.”3 Along with the expressed concern from his children and the stated desire to no longer live. Sonja’s visual assessment of the gentleman appearing lost and confused standing in the hallway supported the patterns of depression. However, during her first visual glimpse of the elderly man in the hallway, Sonja noticed he was well groomed and dressed, which might not be typical of an individual with major depression who lacks the “motivation to do anything.”4 This cue was followed by his anxious voice combined with abnormal gait of stopping and shuffling his feet. These new visual and audible cues created a second hypothesis comparing the patterns Sonja had observed on a patient in the past. Through her interpretation of these new cues on examination and questioning the patient in greater detail, Sonja discovered that the source of the depression originates from the gentleman’s inability to adequately move around to perform daily activities to his standards. Interpreting these patterns as possibly the early stages of Parkinson’s disease, she referred him to the neurology department for further examination and her hypothesis was
Around the same time as Tay’s discovery, a young physician in New York named Bernard Sachs examined a baby girl with very similar symptoms. Sachs reported that since the first time the child had been examined, she never attempted any voluntary movements nor did it seem as if there were any signs of increasing mental development. In addition, by this time, she was completely blind. The child died just before her second birthday and her parents sent her body to Sachs for postmortem examination. It was during this examination that Dr. Sachs saw that the cerebrum was abnormal and took a sample of tissue taken from the cerebral cortex. This too Sachs found to be profoundly abnormal in appearance. Dr. Sachs also noticed a “detritus like” buildup in the cell walls (Cowan 133-135). Sachs continued to examine children with the same symptoms and postmortem results over the next decade. He also began reading similar case reports including that of Tay’s in medical literature.
The condition includes those known as Pick’s Disease, Frontal Lobe Degeneration and Dementia associated with Motor Neurone disease.
This essay will discuss the form of Alzheimer’s dementia Posterior Cortical Atrophy, from the aspects of the journey by Sir Terry Pratchett. In addition the essay will discuss symptoms of the disease, pathology, and anatomical structures and locations.
Dzevdet Smajlovic, professor from the Department of Neurology at the University of Tuzla in Bosnia stated that
May-Thurner Syndrome is a rare condition,with no symptoms that causes the left iliac vein in your pelvis to narrow or completely be pressed off due to pressure from the right common iliac artery. The iliac vein is the main supply of blood to the left leg. When this vein is put under pressure is causes blood to flow abnormally which can lead to deep vein thrombosis. How will you know if you have MTS?
The delusion is mostly common in patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases; such as Alzheimer’s disease (2% - 30%) [8],
The theme in Poe’s short story, “The Premature burial ‘ is one of extreme fear and its effect that it can have on the human mind and the resulting quality of life. The main character narrates the story in first person and suffers from an internal conflict because he is subjected to an unusual disease he tells us, “for several years I have been subject to the disorder which physicians have agreed to term catalepsy.” So he sporadically becomes catatonic, which leads him to develop a fear of people assuming that when he is in this state, he is dead and therefore they might mistakenly bury him alive. Consequently, he persuades his friends to promise to check whether he is alive or not and asks “that under no circumstances they would bury me until
Much research has supported the fact that there is brain structure differences in individuals diagnosed with FASD (Nunez, el al 2011). Research into the brain of individuals has discovered abnormalities in the volume and thickness of the frontal lobes (Nunez, el al 2011). This results in impairments in attention, working memory, and executive functioning that can be traced back to the frontal lobes (Nunez, el al 2011). In addition researchers have also found smaller volumes of basal ganglia, which is a group of nuclei associated with motor control and learning (Nunez, el al 2011). Furthermore, caudate nucleus, which is inside the basal ganglia has also been found to be smaller in individuals was FASD (Nunez, el al 2011). Caudate nucleus is associated with mental flexibility and behaviour inhibition (Nunez, el al 2011). The hypothalamus, which is most responsible for its link with the nervous system was also found to be smaller in individuals was FASD (Nunez, el al 2011). Moreover, the thalamus was also found to be of smaller volume and is responsible for relaying motor and sensory signals to the cerebral cortex (Nunez, el al 2011). Luckily studies have also found that the hippocampus, which required for the formation of memories was left relatively normal (Nunez, el al 2011). The most affected area has been pinpointed as being the anterior vermis, located inside the
The Cotard Delusion is a disorder in which a person believes that they are already dead, does not exist, or is missing their internal organs (NCBI, 2008). Unless one has this mental illness, death is not thought of often. While going through everyday life, one does not stop to consider what their eulogy or funeral will consist of, or what their loved ones will say in their obituaries. After researching and reading several obituaries, I have an idea of what mine will say.
Roderick’s disease described as “morbid acuteness of the senses” (p.235). Madeline’s condition “baffled the skill of her physicians” and was described simply as “a gradual wasting away of a person” (p. 236). Her condition was followed with symptoms such as “frequent although transient affections of a partially cataleptic character” which can mean she seemingly lost contact with the outside world (p. 236). This “cataleptic” state parallels heavy with the character of Norman Bates, who frequently had what was described in simplistic terms as blackouts. During his blackouts he seemed to lose touch with reality (Ehrin, 2013).
been by a paralyzed inability to except the painful sense of loss (Jamil, 2009). The pretense of
Marshall’s Syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disorder. It causes distinctive facial features and limits hearing, smell, and sight based senses. It is caused by irregularities in the COL11A1 gene. Research on the disease is limited. The number of people affected by it is unknown due to little research on the subject. Though the disease causes many problems for the people affected by it, it’s not impossible to live a normal life while suffering from its effects.