A medical algorithm for Cotard delusion based on more than 300 literature cases

Autor(es)

Couto, Rosa A. S. ^{[1, 2]} ; Moreira Goncalves, Luis ^[3]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Minho, Sch Med, Braga - Portugal

^[2] Univ Porto, Fac Pharm, Dept Chem Sci, REQUIMTE, LAQV, Lab Appl Chem, Porto - Portugal

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Quim, Dept Quim Fundamental, Ave Prof Lineu Prestes 748, BR-05508000 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo de Revisão
• Fonte: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE; v. 25, n. 3, p. 220-232, SEP 1 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Objective Cotard delusion (CD) is a rare psychiatric disorder in which the patient believes to be dead,i.e., the patient holds nihilistic delusions concerning his/her own existence. Taking into account its rarity, and possible subdiagnosis due to unawareness, most of the literature consists of case studies, complicating a more systematic approach and leading to difficulties in deciding the best clinical guidance to offer the patient suffering from CD. The objective of this work is to review the literature and propose an algorithm to help the differential diagnosis and the management of this condition. Method To do so, an extensive literature research was performed using several bibliographic databases. Since data on this topic is scarce, references in every article were cross-checked, aiming to obtain all available peer-reviewed works on CD. Results Research resulted in 328 cases. Several treatment modalities were reported to improve the symptoms of CD, from pharmacotherapy - mainly consisting of antipsychotics and antidepressants - to electroconvulsive therapy. Conclusions Despite its challenging diagnosis, the delusion can be treated with readily available care. Hopefully, this work can be a useful tool to doctors when encountering this odd affliction. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 18/14425-7 - Um novo rumo sinérgico para a microextração por difusão gasosa (GDME) fazendo uso de polímeros com impressão molecular (MIPs)
• Beneficiário: Luís Francisco Moreira Gonçalves
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Jovens Pesquisadores