ABSTRACT
In 1861, Baillarger drew attention to a particular form of hypochondriac delusion which included feelings of destruction or non-existence of parte of the body; he had encountered these in cases of general paralysis, and in fact had thought them typical of and belonging almost exclusively to this ailment. In 1880, Cotard read to the Paris Societe Medico-Psychologique a paper in which he described a particular kind of hypochondriac delusion in cases of severe melancholia; he called it 'delusion of negations'. Classical French psychiatry calls this group of symptoms Cotard's syndrome. Cotard described how the illness usually progresses from simple hypochondriasis, through the intermediate stage of delusional hypochondriasis, and finally negation. It is a matter of degree. Freud considered negation [Verneinung] to be one of the earliest defence mechanisms because of its relationship to expulsion. Bertrand Lewin examined the relationship between negation and exalted affirmation.
