[kennyc]

Anyone have or have heard of this one where the patient believes they are dead?

This rare illness makes people think they’re dead

On Nov. 5, 2013, Esmé Weijun Wang came to the remarkable conclusion that she was dead.

In the weeks prior to this, she had begun to feel increasingly fractured — like being scatterbrained, but to such an extreme that she felt her sense of reality was fraying at the edges. She had started to lose her grip on who she was and on the world around her. Desperate to fend off what appeared to be early signs of psychosis, Wang went into a soul-searching and organizational frenzy. She read a self-help book that was supposed to help people discover their core beliefs and desires; she ordered and scribbled in five 2014 datebook planners, reorganized her work space and found herself questioning her role as a writer.

Then one morning, Wang woke her husband before sunrise with an incredible sense of wonder and tears of joy to tell him it all made sense to her now: She had actually died a month before, although at the time she had been told she merely fainted. (During a flight home to San Francisco from London, Wang had drifted into and out of consciousness for four hours. Afterward, doctors were unable to find a cause for this episode.)
.....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...395_story.html

[Loial]

Thanks, interesting but you'll never guess what I'm going to say...

Angelique posted a thread about this a few days ago... (admittedly a different source this time though... it's at the bottom of the first page)





Third time lucky perhaps?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Loial

Thanks, interesting but you'll never guess what I'm going to say...

Angelique posted a thread about this a few days ago... (admittedly a different source this time though... it's at the bottom of the first page)





Third time lucky perhaps?

Okay, but you have any comment on the topic?

[Loial]

Sorry, didn't really mean to call you out... just thought you might find some mutual amusement at the repeat situation.

As I said in the other thread, I just happened to come across this myself the other day. It's certainly a fairly strange & scary delusion to have.

I just came across an article by Esmé Weijun Wang herself, which she wrote whilst suffering from the delusion...

Perdition Days: On Experiencing Psychosis

[kennyc]

Yes, her blog is linked from the article I posted.

And I still don't see any other thread on this Syndrome even searching for it.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Yes, her blog is linked from the article I posted.

And I still don't see any other thread on this Syndrome even searching for it.

http://forums.psychcentral.com/schiz...psychosis.html

[kennyc]

Well I'm still interested in hearing (as I said in the O.P.) of people that might have experienced this.

Seems slightly similar to phantom limb or alien limb phenomenon.

Also seems similar to something many have experienced/thought of ... 'What if all this is just a dream?' that experience of thinking you are the only one alive and everyone/everything is just a figment of your imagination.

Fascinating syndrome to me.

[Loial]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Seems slightly similar to phantom limb or alien limb phenomenon.

Well, I would think that phantom limb isn't really similar because in that case one is experiencing the sensation of their own limb which is no longer there. That almost seems like quite a natural response.

However, I too did ponder the similarity to alien limb syndrome (xenomelia). I remembered an episode of Grey's Anatomy where someone was complaining that their left foot wasn't their own & ended up trying to amputate it themselves. There might even had been an episode on House featuring it.

It's something that can cause a huge amount of distress, having a limb that you feel does not belong to yourself. I don't think people who suffer xenomelia believe the limb to be dead though, just that it doesn't belong.

Interestingly, if you do a search for Cotard's there are a few posts by people who may have had it... it is an incredibly rare delusion to have though.

[emmamental]

Funnily enough, I was just reading about this and then i saw it on the forum. Freaky.

I sometimes believe I'm dead - that I died of a suicide attempt 2 years ago, and this is some kind of everlasting afterlife in which there is no escape. I can sometimes feel the communication of loved ones in my body and mind.

does anyone else have anything similar?

x

[emmamental]

Originally Posted by emmamental

Funnily enough, I was just reading about this and then i saw it on the forum. Freaky.

I sometimes believe I'm dead - that I died of a suicide attempt 2 years ago, and this is some kind of everlasting afterlife in which there is no escape. I can sometimes feel the communication of loved ones in my body and mind.

does anyone else have anything similar?

x

I also think sometimes ''what if this is just all part of my mind?'' as some of the television and people around me say things which i am thinking there and then, and i heard myself talk on the radio.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by emmamental

Funnily enough, I was just reading about this and then i saw it on the forum. Freaky.

I sometimes believe I'm dead - that I died of a suicide attempt 2 years ago, and this is some kind of everlasting afterlife in which there is no escape. I can sometimes feel the communication of loved ones in my body and mind.

does anyone else have anything similar?

x

It's the 'media machine'

Thanks for your response. Just to clarify, you did attempt suicide 2 years ago and sometimes think you actually died instead of survived. Also that you can communicate through some extra sensory means to loved ones, Living or Dead Loved ones? or both? And did this 'communication ability' appear in conjunction with the suicide attempt?

Thanks for your post and in advance for your response.

[neil w]

i've believed something parallel to this. i used to think that i was immortal and that i had "died" many many times, sometimes through accident or misfortune and sometimes through suicide, only to "recover" almost instantly usually but not always nearby. However, through a series of events i now believe im mortal and will be allowed to leave this world the next time i die.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by neil w

i've believed something parallel to this. i used to think that i was immortal and that i had "died" many many times, sometimes through accident or misfortune and sometimes through suicide, only to "recover" almost instantly usually but not always nearby. However, through a series of events i now believe im mortal and will be allowed to leave this world the next time i die.

Fascinating. Thank you. I'm wondering if you believe you have memories of those past lives? Is it that sort of thing as well?

This is interesting because I did go through a long period (about 25 years) where I would destroy photographs of myself. It's possible that this behavior was a manifestation of Cotard's Syndrome (a delusion of negation of self).

It should be noted that a lesser manifestation of Cotard's Syndrome is the delusion of immortality (with the added delusion that one has died many times).

Through support (a couple of people in my life who would repeatedly tell me that they loved me) I gradually stopped destroying pictures of myself, and I now feel strongly that I do exist.

[neil w]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Fascinating. Thank you. I'm wondering if you believe you have memories of those past lives? Is it that sort of thing as well?

yes, its not that my existence spanned more than a normal human life time, just that my life has been punctuated with several deaths, maybe a dozen or so.

Originally Posted by kindness

It should be noted that a lesser manifestation of Cotard's Syndrome is the delusion of immortality (with the added delusion that one has died many times).

Ah right. well i didnt spend much time in therapy and so never really got around to this aspect. I thought there might be some connection.

[emmamental]

Originally Posted by kennyc

It's the 'media machine'

Thanks for your response. Just to clarify, you did attempt suicide 2 years ago and sometimes think you actually died instead of survived. Also that you can communicate through some extra sensory means to loved ones, Living or Dead Loved ones? or both? And did this 'communication ability' appear in conjunction with the suicide attempt?

Thanks for your post and in advance for your response.

I remember sizing up the banister, thinking about jumping in front of cars and went to bed hugging a bottle of bleach. I remember losing 5 hours one day - when i checked my phone it was 5 hours later than it should of been. i wonder what happened during that time. I've felt their ''vibes'' and heard their voices for many years now. just trying to make sense of it is difficult.

It got a lot worse coming off of Clozapine a few years ago.

[emmamental]

I keep on dreaming that i have died and committed suicide - i hear people around me talking about me and have a lot of strange coincidences - all of which started a few years ago. so many strange things have happened - i was in a shop and a toddler turned around and said my name and then ''that will take courage'' i don't know what he means - whether or not i've died and it will take courage to move on and face up to it - or what.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by emmamental

....
It got a lot worse coming off of Clozapine a few years ago.

interesting....sort of off topic, but did you switch to another med in place of the Clozapine?

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by emmamental

I remember sizing up the banister, thinking about jumping in front of cars and went to bed hugging a bottle of bleach. I remember losing 5 hours one day - when i checked my phone it was 5 hours later than it should of been. i wonder what happened during that time. I've felt their ''vibes'' and heard their voices for many years now. just trying to make sense of it is difficult.

It got a lot worse coming off of Clozapine a few years ago.

Understood. Thank you!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by emmamental

I keep on dreaming that i have died and committed suicide - i hear people around me talking about me and have a lot of strange coincidences - all of which started a few years ago. so many strange things have happened - i was in a shop and a toddler turned around and said my name and then ''that will take courage'' i don't know what he means - whether or not i've died and it will take courage to move on and face up to it - or what.

Thank you. Wishing you courage and sending my best good thoughts!