Cotard Syndrome
Zombies are real, but not like those in stories on the big screen. Real zombies and vampires are regular people who suffer from a mental condition called, Cotard Syndrome. Cotard's syndrome, is a rare mental disorder, those with cotard syndrome have delusional belief that they are already dead. This syndrome is also known as the Walking Corpse Syndrome. These delusions can range from believing one is dead, are putrefying, do not exist, or have lost their blood and organs. This mental disorder was brought to the attention in the 1880‘s, by Jules Cotard, who described a delusion he called “delusion of negations”. Cotard Syndrome is mostly a certain type of depression.
Dr. Jules Cotard, was a French neurologist with a military background, who is most famous for the describing this mental condition in the 1880’s. Dr. Cotard died in the year of 1889. Cotard syndrome was named after him. He described these delusions as a certain severe forms of chronic anxiety. Dr. Cotard describes some of the six major symptoms, which are melancholic anxiety, ideas of damnation and diabolic possession, in other words demon-pathy, disposition towards suicide or self injury, analgesia, hypochondriac ideas of nonexistence or destruction of organs or the entire body, of the soul, or of God, etc.
Cases Reported with Cotard Syndrome
Patient one, a man attempted to commit suicide, by electrocuting himself because of depression. After the incident, he told his psychiatrist, that his brain was dead, but his body was living. That he no longer needed to eat or sleep. However he acknowledged that his mind was alive, but could not understand if his brain was dead how his mind could be alive. Still though he kept insisting his brain was dead. Psyc...
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...s amount and that puts your kidneys under a lot of stress, since the body cannot break down lithium chemicals that well. Mood stabilizer help to sedate a person with severe mood disorders. People suffering from cotard syndrome are usually disoriented and depressed that they need mood stabilizers so they do not cause harm to themselves or others around them.
However out of all the medication listed for most mental disorders, electroconvulsive therapy, has the most positive effect for cotard syndrome. It is commonly known as electroshock treatment. The patients are electronically given seizures to give the relief from their psychiatric illnesses. Women are more likely to go under electroshock treat, seeing as they are more likely to go into depression. Electroshock treatment is usually given as a last result for most major depression disorders, like cotard syndrome.
James Parker essay “Our Zombies, Ourselves,” informs readers that the zombie has almost outranked the vampire, and why they’re so popular. This undead monster originated from a Caribbean folk nightmare and was adapted over time by, the Halperin brothers, William Seabrook and George Romero and numerous others. Much like the vampire, zombies owe their fame to the progressiveness of technology, allowing them to consistently invade various media forms. The zombie has infested countless tv shows, movies, video games, and books, throughout the 21st century. Zombies themselves are soulless corpses who were regurgitated back into the world of the living. This making them rejects from the underworld, this presents the zombie as rejected yet inexpungable. What makes the zombie so popular, however, is that symbolizes everything that is rejected by humanity. “Much can be made of him, because he makes so little of himself. He comes back, He comes back, feebly but unstoppably” (Parker). The zombie represents humanity itself as well as what is rejected by humanity. Much like individuals today, the zombie is burdened by life’s demands, converting to nothing but a rotting, groaning human shell that stumbles through life without a purpose. The zombie is symbolizer of the real world, and all things irrepressible, whereas the vampire is a symbol of an alternate world and all things
... in assisting those who care about the bipolar individual, as well as providing socialization and a means to not feel alone. Generally, as a last resort, electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT is used. An electrical current is passed through the brain. This is thought to change the brain chemistry and increase the mood. This is used only for severe depression or when symptoms are unsuccessfully treated with medications. People with Bipolar Disorder are encouraged to avoid drinking alcohol, avoid the use of street drugs or misusing prescription medications, avoid unhealthy relationships, get plenty of sleep, and exercise on a regular basis. One thing is clear. The person themselves must be active in their own well-being in order to maintain a relatively healthy and productive lifestyle. In so doing, the prognosis for someone diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder is very good.
As said in the previous discussion regarding the second chapter of Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human, zombies and their culture are examined and broke down in order to understand their motives for the progression of zombies globally. Through different perspectives from individuals based around the world, the discussion of the zombie culture debates over the idea that zombies have not just evolved within the narratives that have brought them to life, but they have evolved in such a way that ultimately transforms the narrative itself. However, in this specific chapter, “They are not men…they are dead bodies!”: From Cannibal to Zombie and Back Again, Chera Kee breaks down the introduction of zombies into mainstream consciousness,
The idea of a zombie is made up and it comes from nzambi, the Kongo word for the spirit of a dead person. In states such as Louisiana, or the Creole culture they believe zombies represent a person who has dies and brought back to life with no speech. Kings psychological argument on how we have an urge to watch horror movies because it helps to re-establish our feelings and feel natural again. Klusterman’s sociological essay helped us see the comparison of zombies and humans in real life. In conclusion zombies are not real, they are make believe but help bring a sense of normality to
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment for severe mental illness in which the brain is stimulated with a strong electrical current which induces a seizure. The seizure rearranges the brain's neurochemistry and results in an elevation of mood. This essay asks: Is ECT any safer and more effective in treating mood disorders than drug therapies? This treatment has a controversial history ever since it was first introduced in 1938. I intend to argue that electroconvulsive therapy is indeed a safe treatment of mental disorders when other treatments have failed. Due to the development of safer and less traumatic ways of administering ECT, the treatment has made a comeback, is greatly used, and proves to be effective.
Scream Factory takes us back to school with the release of 1987’s Zombie High. Director Ron Link helms a the horror / comedy written by Tim Doyle (Big Bang Theory), Independent Spirit Award Nominee Aziz Ghazal, and Elizabeth Passarelli. Actress Virginia Madsen (Candyman, The Haunting in Connecticut) and Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart) are joined by Paul Feig, who went on to make a name for himself by directing Bridesmaids and the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot.
An individual who has a mental illness can be a danger to themselves and others. They don't live a normal life that is guaranteed to them, holding them back from being successful and having a bright future. If medications are not working for a mental illness, then the patient can consider electroconvulsive therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical procedure that sends currents of electricity through your brain. ECT saves lives and is ethical to treat patients using “psychosurgical” procedure.
“Todd S Elwyn – Factitious Disorder Imposed on Self.” emedicine.medscape.com. 2014. 10 March 2014. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/291304-overview
Neurologically, the amygdala (which associate emotions to recognized faces) might be affected. The neural disconnection creates in the patient a sense that the face he/she is observing is not the face of the person to whom it belongs. Therefore, that face lacks the familiarity and recognition usually associated with it, which results in “derealization” and disconnection from the environment. If the patient sees his/her own face, he/she might perceive no association between the face and his/her sense of “Self”. Medicine indicates that Cotard's syndrome is associated with lesions in the parietal lobe and brain atrophy, especially of the median frontal
Zombie literature in its current form has been around since the early 1920’s, the concept of the “Zombie” itself originated in the nation of Haiti around the same time. Since it’s inception, the purpose of the zombie genre is to commentate on social issues during many periods of human history. These periods include World War II, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. The zombie has represented several things from the nuclear bomb, to the collective fears of humanity in general, such as the fear of death and of dying. Zombies have also been represented as a physical manifestation of the flaws of humanity, such as mindless, joyless consumerism. (McGregor)
Dr. Paul A. Byrne, a neonatologist and a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, claims that brain death is not true death for a person, doctors just want to harvest the organs so they claim a person is dead when they’re really not: “Patients are declared brain dead in order to harvest their organs.” The true death is the removal of the organs, Byrne says: “Every donor is killed in the process.” Byrne also says that doctors aren’t able to take the organs out of someone who is truly dead because organ damage occurs after circulation has stopped. Therefore, the person is still alive when the removal of organs takes place. Byrne supports his claim, that brain death isn’t true death, by providing evidence about a young man from Oklahoma, Zach Dunlap, who was declared brain dead. However, his cousin who was one of his nurses, recognized a response after four hours of being declared dead by scraping a knife on the bottom of his foot. Dunlap wasn’t truly dead although he had been declared dead. He even said he could hear everything the doctors were saying but couldn’t yell for help due to his head injury. By telling the story of a person who had this happen to him, Byrne is showing that there is actual evidence that people who are declared brain dead might not actually be dead and that doctors should be better at checking whether a person is truly brain dead or not. The story of Zach Dunlap appeared on newscasts, websites, and shows; such as NBC News, the Today
There have been some cases where people have been declared brain dead but then regain some brain activity (Greenberg, 2014). This has sparked debates that brain death does not necessarily mean death.... ... middle of paper ... ...
There are many possibilities where a human can be turned into a “zombie”. Disease, disease has been with humans as long as humans have lived on this Earth. When we look throughout history, we can see the evolution of disease. In England during the Middle Ages, the Bubonic Plague is a perfect example. It hit the British pretty hard, taking them absolutely by surprise.
Since the times of Plato and Aristotle, the argument of dualism and mutualism of the mind and body has been in existence. Dualism has been the driving force behind the existence of the mind/body problem and has been by far the majority view due largely to the influence of Descartes. In recent times, modern medicine has taken a shift towards mutualism. Outside stimuli, as perceived by the mind, affects the body either beneficially or adversely. While the body as an organism has the capacity to heal, evidence proves that the mind expedites recovery. The mind and body are one. Evidence of this mutualism exists in Divakaruni's "What the Body Knows." This story shows that the condition of the mind is a pertinent necessity in recovery of the physical person. - In the story Aparna gives birth to a son by cesarean section. She is mutilated in a sense; however, the pain is overpowered by the good in bringing life into the world. What turns into a healthy state of mind soon turns sour by experience. The pain continues and within a short period of time she ends up back in the hospital with complications. She awakes in the same room feeling the loss of her baby not being near but also losing to the pain. The multiples of negative stimuli have begun. Aparna spends a period of time being poked and prodded by the medical staff while they figure out what to do. She periodically hears the congenial claps and hurrahs as other women leave the ward. What was once a festive occasion turns negative in her perception. She feels like the medical staff is giving her a lot of lip service. Though all are perceptions in attitude, Aparna is too angry and upset to see any positive ou...
Mental illness, today we are surround by a broad array of types of mental illnesses and new discoveries in this field every day. Up till the mid 1800’s there was no speak of personality disorder, in fact there was only two type of mental illness recognized. Those two illnesses as defined by Dr. Sam Vaknin (2010), “”delirium” or “manial”- were depression (melancholy), psychoses, and delusions.” It was later in 1835 when J. C. Pritchard the British Physician working at Bristol Infirmary Hospital published his work titled “Treatise on Insanity and Other Disorder of the Mind” this opened the door to the world of personality disorder. There were many story and changes to his theories and mental illness and it was then when Henry Maudsley in 1885 put theses theories to work and applied to a patient. This form of mental illness has since grown into the many different types of personality disorder that we know today. Like the evolution of the illness itself there has been a significant change in the way this illness is diagnosed and treated.