Recent work in cognitive neuropsychiatry explains the Capgras and Cotard delusions as alternative explanations of unusual qualitative states caused by damage to an affective component of the face recognition system. Typically, cotard patients attribute their condition to drastic changes in themselves and Capgras patients attribute the same changes to alterations in the environment. 


Scripps College

One way to examine or learn more about Cotard Syndrome is to study the neurological and cognitive components of the delusion disorder. 

Neuropsychological and Cognitive Components of Cotard Syndrome

The clinical features and treatment of neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) depend on one's recognition of clinical syndromes that have not been sufficiently studied. One case study found that the specific neuropsychiatric events could be attributed to the activity of the underlying immunological disease. However, the patient with Cotard delusions showed rapid remission in cognition following electroconvulsive therapy. 


Cotard delusion in a patient with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus

Cotard’s syndrome, a condition in which the patient denies his or her own existence or the existence of body parts, is a rare illness that has been reported in association with several neuropsychiatric diagnoses. One study found that patients exhibited frontal lobe changes/volume loss, ischemic changes, and right-sided/bilateral hemisphere lesions. 


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