The Walking Dead disease may actually be real. As a the Cotard Delusion makes people think they’re zombies.
The Walking Dead is currently the most watched TV show on television. Bringing in millions of viewers a week, AMC has acquired and produces one of the biggest zombie dramas in history. But, did you know that there is rare mental illness that convinces people to think that they are actually zombies?
Truth is always stranger than fiction. In a recent report by the Washington Post, a rare disease called Cotard’s syndrome makes people believe that they are zombies.
What does it feel like to be a zombie?
From Washington Post:
“I was convinced that I had died on that flight, and I was in the afterlife and hadn’t realized it until that moment,” said Wang, now 32, who was convinced her husband and their dog Daphne were dead as well. “That was the beginning of when I was convinced that I was dead. But I wasn’t upset about it, because I thought that I could do things [in my life] over and do them better.”
This rare mental illness, in which an affected person has delusions that makes believe that they are dead.
The disease was first discovered by French neurologist Jules Cotard and he called the disease “The Delirium of Negation” or Le délire des négations.
Many people that experience Cotard Syndrome believe that they do not have certain organs, body parts, blood or both.
While the disease is not present in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems as well as the World Health Organization all classify Cotard Syndrome as a real disorder.
Symptoms of the zombie disease?
According to a case study on Cotard Syndrome, here are a list of signs and symptoms in case you come across a zombie someone experiencing Cotard delusions:
- Distorted reality
- Chronic Sadness
- Decreased Physical Activity
- Social Withdrawal
- Disturbed Biological Functions
Is there a cure?
But, how do you fix Cotard Syndrome? According to Scientific American, it’s not that easy. The cause of Cotard’s Syndrome is “misfiring in the fusiform face areas of the brain, which recognises faces, and also in the amygdala, which adds emotions to those recognitions.” This ends up causing lack of emotion and disconnection with reality. Typically, doctors prescribe anti-depressants and anti-psychotics along with Electroconvulsive therapy. But, nobody really knows for sure how to solve it.
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What do you think of this disease? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!
