From early morning it seems that he is missing an arm. He is standing in front of the mirror, but he repeatedly feels that he does not have two hands like everyone else. After much deliberation, he called his wife and informed her of the matter. But who listens to whom? He refuses to accept that his left hand is still there. Finally, by showing it in the mirror, pinching it, Nina managed to convince Adi like Eberka that it was actually Adi’s hand. But the hand is not an external organ, its existence can be controlled, shown in a mirror, or pinched. But what can be done in the case of Wally? Suddenly in the middle of the night, Wally wakes up and tells his wife Raisa that he has no heart.
How will Raisa convince him that his heart is still intact? Consider Ali again. Alito keeps telling everyone that he died years ago. He is dead, he does not need food. And without doing this, he actually died of starvation. This type of delusion is called somatoparaphrenia. In this, the person suffers from dilution about a specific body part. Other schizophrenia patients or delusional patients may suffer from delusions. Sometimes they see things, sometimes they smell things that are not there; But in the case of people suffering from Walking Corpse Syndrome or Cottered Syndrome, the delusion is usually limited to a specific subject, so this delusion is named monothematic delusion.
And this dilution is mainly seen when one suffers from ‘Walking Corpse Syndrome’ or ‘Cottered Syndrome’. The disease is very rare. The number of patients suffering from this disease worldwide has not reached 200, but many people can suffer from this disease as before. As Adi’s wife, Nina feels, ‘Why us? Why does this rare disease have to happen in this family? But no one wants to bring this disease. What can happen then?
People suffering from this disease suffer from confusion, and they do not realize that they are confused and how much trouble this confusion causes for them and for everyone involved in their life. It is not a disease itself, but one of the symptoms of other mental disorders. It can be cured indirectly by treating other mental disorders. To cure it, the patient needs both medication and therapy. Antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anti-anxiety drugs are usually prescribed to these patients. The most common therapies that play a significant role in curing this disease are CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Psychotherapy. And if none of these work, ECT or electroconvulsive therapy is given.
There are several other forms of people suffering from this disease. Many times someone may feel that he is actually living in someone else’s body or that one of his parts is actually not his, but someone else’s. Robin did a funny thing that day. He stared at his left hand for a long time, quite annoyed, while his wife, Nancy, repeated something urgent. After a while Nancy noticed that even after she asked the same question three times, the fingers of her own left hand were moving in Robin’s serious face. Nothing seemed to enter his ears. Finally on the fourth time he went and took Robin’s left hand in his own, sitting on the floor looking into Robin’s eyes and waiting for him to return his attention.
Robin then sees Nancy sitting on the floor holding her hand, as if to regain her composure. When Nancy gently shook her hand, she asked Nancy, “Nancy, how did Dr. Albert’s hand come to my hand?” where is my hand How did Dr. Albert get all my rings? Now understand! Nancy doesn’t know how to respond. He sat down crying in despair. She couldn’t accept that her husband had to leave her in a mental hospital. It was quite a happy family of Tona-Tuni. What happened from where? How is it possible that Robin can recognize his rings, but not his hand? For several minutes, Nancy sat as if relaxed. After wiping his eyes, he managed himself a little. He tried to redirect Robin a bit. Lovingly, he said, ‘Let’s sit together and have tea.’
After the two of them sat on the balcony, the wise Nancy held out her hands and asked Robin, ‘What is the difference between these two hands?’ Robin said, ‘There is no difference!’ He said, this is my turn. Show your hands! Robin let out a loud scream as he held out his hand. As if his hands were hot, he screamed loudly and said, ‘Where is my hand? Here I have only one hand, the other is the doctor’s hand! He is also wearing my wedding ring! How did he get his hands on my body?’ Any such incident is a very common symptom of this disease. For a moment during the service, Nancy was able to convince Robin that it was actually Robin’s hand by pinching and touching the hot teapot in her hand.
But that understanding did not last long. After a while, he saw that Robin had gone to the bathroom! Not even the smell of getting out. After knocking on the door for a long time, there was no response, but the sound of water falling from the basin could be heard. Finally, as he opened the door and entered the bathroom, he found himself looking at the mirror, rubbing the soap in one hand, and Robin saying, ‘Doctor, what if you come and sit on my body? I’m not washing my hands of you. You will wash your hands, you will do your own work.’ Understand now! What irritation! Standing at the door to see this scene, Nancy did not think, should she laugh or cry? However, he finally made the right decision at the right time. Ran, picked up the phone, made a doctor’s appointment. But the biggest irritation is that the appointment is another six months away. What will he do in these six months, how will he handle it! Finally the family doctor prescribed some anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs for the time being, and taking them, Nancy braced herself for a good day by feeding Robin.
There are some more terrifying forms of this disease. As seen in history, many people suffering from this disease used to say that he is immortal, he will not die. As a result, they actually die by neglecting food and sleep etc. Others might have said that no blood is flowing in his body anymore, or that the body he is living in is not his body at all. 45 percent of those suffering from this disease felt that the body they lived in was not their body. On the other hand, the remaining 55 percent of people thought that they were immortal. In 1880, the neurologist and psychiatrist Jules Cotterard first published all the information about this disease.
Apart from that, the most authentic book that we get all the identification, recognition, treatment, etc. of mental disorders, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has not revealed anything about this disease till date. As described by Jules Cotard, the symptoms of this disease can take different forms at different levels. For example, when initially appearing in small doses, only depression or self-loathing may appear; In extreme cases, extreme symptoms such as severe delusions and chronic depression may occur.
