It is one of the delusional misidentification syndromes; although rare, it is most commonly associated with traumatic or acquired brain injury, such as stroke, particularly when there is simultaneous damage to the right cerebral hemisphere and to both frontal lobes.
The impact had caused a fractured skull and frontal lobe damage to both sides (although more pronounced on the right) owing to the formation of intracerebral hematomas: A few days after admission to the Neurobehavioural Center, orientation for time was intact, he could give details of the accident (as related to him by others), could remember his doctors' names and could learn new information and retain it indefinitely.
Other early investigators did accept that brain injury was an important factor, but suggested that the disorientation was a "hysterical reaction" motivated by a desire to return home.
[7] In retrospect, however, the phenomenon has been found to have been first reported by the Swiss naturalist Charles Bonnet in 1788,[11] who described a woman who also had what would now be called Cotard delusion.
Henry Head[12] and Paterson and Zangwill[6] later reported on soldiers who had the delusional belief that their hospital was located in their home town, although in these cases traumatic brain injury seemed to be the most likely cause.