# Depersonalization & Cotard's Syndrome



## bgindy (Dec 19, 2008)

Hi everybody,

I've been dealing with DP/DR for close to 9 months now. As you all know, DP/DR is hell at first. You don't know what's going on and you're sure the universe and your mind have vanished. I've been on on Citalopram for about 4 months now and it has helped tremendously with regard to functionality. It hasn't really cleared the DP/DR but it has allowed me to function normally like I would have before all this happened. I've also been able to just enjoy life more without dwelling as much on the DP/DR. Like many of you I'm sure, I often think about all the possible explanations for this nightmare and I go round and round trying to come up with answers. Deep down I know the truth and I know that I'm just sick and I'll get better someday. Unfortunately, however, I'm also a major hypochondriac and I'm also wondering if maybe this will develop into something worse. Both my counselor and psychiatrist say that DP/DR doesn't develop into anything worse, but I was watching an episode of Scrubs and there was a patient with Cotard's syndrome and of course, I had to go and look it up and research it. I saw one old, old (1880ish) article that said something alluding to the fact that DP/DR is "an essential step in developing Cotard." Naturally, I flipped out and now I'm panicking that I will develop it. So what are your thoughts on this? I know I should listen to my docs and I'm sure if there were any risk of developing Cotard's, they would tell me. Not once have they ever even mentioned it. Basically, I just need people to confirm that DP/DR doesn't develop into anything worse!


----------



## HereNotHere (Mar 3, 2009)

I don't think you need to worry about it. When I searched on it, text said it was rare. Maybe you are worrying about it to avoid thinking about something else more likely and therefore more scary?


----------



## bgindy (Dec 19, 2008)

Are you suggesting that it could develop into something worse than Cotard's?


----------



## peachy (Feb 9, 2008)

lol omg i saw that same episode (big scrubs fan) and immediately thought about dp too so i looked it up online. i doubt you have anything to worry about. cotards sounds more like a psychotic thing and depersonalization and psychosis are two very different things. anyway, welcome.


----------



## voidvoid (Sep 5, 2008)

Goddamnit. Oh and welcome to the forum


----------



## Guest (Jul 4, 2009)

I also saw the Scrubs episode and was irritated how unrealistic it is. Here is a clearer definition from Wikipedia. It is extremely rare. It is clearly neurological, and isn't amusing. You will NOT get Cotard's. When it says DP/DR are associated with it, it just means that a person with Cotard's can have DP/DR. On this board a person with anxiety can have DP/DR -- in other words DP/DR are SECONDARY symptoms not a PRIMARY disorder in many.

Again, Cotard's is very rare. But as always, I depend on neurologists, not psychiatrists to figure perceptual distortions out. I am so sick of psychiatrists I could punch them in the head.



> The Cotard delusion or Cotard's syndrome, also known as nihilistic or negation delusion, is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that he or she is dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his/her blood or internal organs. Rarely, it can include delusions of immortality.
> It is named after Jules Cotard (1840?1889), a French neurologist who first described the condition, which he called le d?lire de n?gation ("negation delirium"), in a lecture in Paris in 1880. He described the syndrome as having various degrees of severity, ranging from mild to severe. In a mild state, feelings of despair and self-loathing occur, while in the severe state a person with Cotard's syndrome actually starts to deny the very existence of the self.[citation needed]
> In this lecture, Cotard described a patient with the pseudonym of Mademoiselle X, who denied the existence of God, the Devil, several parts of her body and her need to eat. Later she believed she was eternally damned and could no longer die a natural death.
> 
> ...


----------



## rob35235 (Feb 21, 2009)

I have long thought that many "different'' psychiatric problems are really the same thing, with different people dealing with them in different ways. LIke I think DP and DR are the same exact thing, it just depends on the person how they perceive it. Sounds like this "cotards" thing is no different.


----------



## Absentis (Jul 10, 2007)

bgindy said:


> So what are your thoughts on this? I know I should listen to my docs and I'm sure if there were any risk of developing Cotard's, they would tell me. Not once have they ever even mentioned it. Basically, I just need people to confirm that DP/DR doesn't develop into anything worse!


Relax! DPD does not develop into Cotard's delusion. If you have just DP/DR (that is, it isn't secondary to something else like a lesion or bipolar) it won't develop into _anything _ else.


----------



## hello (Aug 9, 2009)

uncomfortable.


----------



## hello (Aug 9, 2009)

safety.


----------



## DownTheRabbitHole (May 30, 2009)

hey i can only vouch for myself, but i am indeed human, whos had the same thoughts as you

hello!, Hello lol


----------



## hello (Aug 9, 2009)

no.


----------



## DownTheRabbitHole (May 30, 2009)

geta grip dude, think back when you were thinking rationaly! and then look at what your saying...is that really YOU?
no wonder you wouldnt feel like the same person, if your not acting like the same person you were, find your inner self.

and you ahvent made a post about bad associatons elsewhere, unless you were under a different username, as you only have 3 posts to your name...all in this thread.


----------

