Seventeen year old Haley Smith suffered from Cotard's Syndrome for three years because she was unaware of what might have been wrong with her. For two years she accepted her new "lifestyle" and did not talk to anyone about it. When she finally decided to talk to someone about it she obtained the courage to tell her father who insisted she see a psychologist for help. Through therapy, and supposedly, Disney films she was able to recover early this year. | "As I walked home I thought about visiting a graveyard to be close to others who were also dead." |
Shortly after telling her dad, Miss. Smith started seeing a psychologist who helped treat her illness. Along with the help of her therapist she watched Disney films. She decided she couldn't be dead because "how can [she] be dead when Disney makes [her] feel this good?" She not only credits the help of her therapist for her recovery, but she also credits Disney for her recovery because the movies made her feel alive. It is thought that her illness was brought on by the divorce of her parents because before the divorce she did not report any feelings of being dead. As many teens who deal with divorce she was probably experiencing minor depression as it could have been a big change in her life, and big changes never come easy. It is known that Cotard's Syndrome is caused by a malfunction in the Fusiform Gyrus, which recognizes faces, and the Amygdala, which processes emotions. Because Miss. Smith was going through a dramatic change in her life she may have had a hard time processing her emotions. She may have been depressed which could account for her "sensation" of being "dead" as she may have been void of any emotions. There are many different ways in which Cotard's Syndrome can present itself, as it true with all psychological disorder or mental illnesses. No illness afflicts a specific target or afflicts every every target the same way. Each case of Cotard's Syndrome, and every other mental illness, is unique. No case should be overlooked because it does not look like a different case of the same illness. If every illness were the same treatment would be much easier, but since every case is different it is important to research and know what something might look like when it is not a "textbook" case as well as when it is a "textbook" case. Sources: MailOnline, Anna Hodgekiss for. "Teenager Spent Three Years Thinking She Was DEAD Due to 'Walking Corpse Syndrome' - and Credits Disney Films with Her Recovery." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 15 Jan. 2015. Web. 5 Nov. 2015. | "I'd fantasize about having picnics in graveyards and I'd spend a lot of time watching horror films because seeing the zombies made me feel relaxed, like I was with family." "I went online and found stories of other people who suffered from it. They wanted to spend time in graveyards too. It made me feel so much better that I wasn't the only one." "Being a corpse was the most bizarre experience, but I'm so glad I managed to get out alive." |