Man Who Believes He is Dead

A patient has written a disturbing account of his life with a condition which makes him think he is dead, describing how he spent his days in graveyards as it was "the closest I could get to death." 

The British man, identified only as Graham, woke up nine years ago utterly convinced that he was no longer alive, even though he was still breathing. Doctors diagnosed him with Cotard's Syndrome, which is also known as "Walking Corpse Syndrome" because it makes people think they have turned into zombies. 

Graham did not believe them, however, and insisted that his brain was dead. The unusual condition emerged after Graham, who suffered from severe depression, tried to commit suicide by taking an electrical appliance with him into the bath. Eight months later he told doctors that his brain had died or was, at best, missing. 

Only through months of therapy and treatment was he able to overcome the condition and live anything approaching a normal life. Cotard's Syndrome is among the rarest diseases in the world, and it is believed that just a few hundred people are affected at any one time. It is linked to depression and comes in a variety of forms, including the sensation that the limbs are no longer functioning.