Have you heard about the challenges of the Cotard syndrome?

Our minds play a lot of tricks now and then but we get to the point of controlling it most of the times. But what happens when unforeseen scenarios take over and fear becomes the ultimate companion? That’s what life can feel like for someone with Cotard syndrome. The delusions take shape into reality and mind makes up the scariest scenes making them believe they do not exist at all!

When your mind becomes a horror story: Living with Cotard Syndrome

Have you ever felt like you are missing a limb all of a sudden and though pain looks excruciating you don’t really care? If yes, then you might be suffering from Cotard syndrome. This one plays the dirtiest tricks with one’s mind making them feel that they are dead, rotting, have lost their blood or organs, or do not exist at all. 

This is like putting on an invisible cloak, and literally believing that they do not have a particular physical body. The main drivers of this are severe depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder.

So, how exactly things get to the worst? Well, having the believe that there is no physical body to take care of, people usually stop doing the regular things that a human body needs. If there’s no stomach then there’s no need for food and if there’s no body at all then there’s no need for cleaning or covering it right? So, starving and foul smells take the centre stage making them look crazy in front of the world. 

Records of people defining this condition said things like, "My heart doesn't beat," or "I don't have muscles”. Medically, it’s linked to neurological damage in the fusiform gyrus, the part of the brain responsible for recognizing faces and other body parts. As of now there hasn't been any permanent cure discovered.

Modern day movies like Synecdoche, New York and Pretty Dead have explored this rare condition through masterful storytelling, showing beautifully how fragile our belief of reality can be. 

Our brain is the ultimate storyteller, silently shaping every thought and belief, making us trust the reality it creates every moment. But what if, one day, it suddenly rewrites that reality in ways we could never have imagined?

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