[Allen Farber]

I was reading this article about this neurological disorder known as Cotard's Syndrome, where the sufferer either believes that they're dead or don't exist, and this was the explanation a doctor gave as at to why this happens.

" There is a network in the brain that's responsible for internal awareness - awareness of our own body, awareness of our emotions, and awareness of our self-related thoughts. In Cotard's Syndrome, it seems like that particular network is damped down. In some sense, their own experience of their body in all its vividness and experience with their own emotions in all its vividness - that's compromised very severely. So in some sense, they're not feeling themselves vividly. It's as simple as that, but then there's also something else that is happening in their brain. It seems like parts of the brain that are responsible for rational thought are also damaged. So first of all, what might be happening is a perception that arises in their brain, saying that they're dead because they're not literally perceiving their own body and body states and emotions vividly."

What does it mean to be aware of our emotions? How would someone not be aware of having an emotion? If you feel a certain way then you know you feel that way. Even if you don't know the name of an emotion, say the word "Sad" for example, you still feel it when you feel "Sad" and start showing the symptoms: crying, feeling miserable, etc. How could someone be unaware that the emotion they're having is negative (or positive in cases of feeling Happy or Excited)?

Secondly, what does "vividly experiencing emotions" mean in this context? And also, what does "literally perceiving one's own body, body states, and emotions vividly" mean? Can someone give me an example of someone perceiving their emotions literally and perceiving their emotions not literally?
Thanks in advance to anyone that has a better understanding in this field that can answer this question.