Cotard’s Syndrome

Has anyone ever heard of Cotard’s Syndrome? I found this article about a homeless man from New York who was put in jail for trespassing and got so depressed in jail that he developed the rare syndrome. He was said to have extreme mental depression and suicidal tendencies. He believed that he had died and was a walking corpse. This delusion is usually expanded to the degree that the patient suffering from Cotard’s Syndrome might claim that he can smell his own rotting flesh and feel worms crawling through his skin. The phenomenon is a recurring experience of people chronically deprived of sleep or suffering amphetamine/cocaine psychosis. In other cases the patients have clamed that their bodies were void of blood, organs, and in some cases that they were even petrified internally. Funnily enough, being "dead" often gives the patient the nation of being immortal.

-Harris Hine