Cotard delusion after brain injury

Abstract

A right-handed young man with contusions affecting temporo-parietal areas of the right cerebral hemisphere and some bilateral frontal lobe damage became convinced that he was dead (the Cotard delusion), and experienced difficulties in recognizing familiar faces, buildings and places, as well as feelings of derealization. Neuropsychological investigation while these symptoms were resolving revealed impairment on face processing tests. We suggest that these impairments contributed to his Cotard delusion by heightening feelings of unreality, and that the underlying pathophysiology and neuropsychology of the Cotard delusion may be related to other problems involving delusional misidentification.