Author: Berrios, G. E.; Luque, R.
Description: This report offers an account of the historical construction of Cotard’s syndrome showing that by délire des négations the French author meant a subtype of depressive illness. Subsequent debate led first to the belief that it was just a collection of symptoms associated with agitated depression (anxious melancholia) or general paralysis, and later to the view that it might after all constitute a separate entity. At the present moment, and impervious to the fact that the French term délire means far more than delusion, some authors use Cotard’s syndrome to refer to the belief of being dead and suggest that such a delusion might have a specific brain location. From the clinical and evolutionary perspective, it is unclear why a delusion should merit, simply because of its nihilistic content, a special brain location or presage chronicity. It is suggested here that before neurobiologic speculation starts, efforts should be made to map out the clinical features and correlations of the délire des negations.
Subject headings: Attitude to Death; Delusions; Denial, Psychological; Eponyms; France; History; 19th Century; History; 20th Century; Humans; Hypochondriasis; Syndrome
Publication year: 1995
Journal or book title: Comprehensive Psychiatry
Volume: 36
Issue: 3
Pages: 218-223
Find the full text: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0010440X9590085A
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Serial number: 3472