14 DAY TRIAL // An article published in a recent issue of the New Scientist Magazine details how a rare brain disorder tricked a man into thinking that he was a zombie.
The man, only identified as Graham, reportedly started spending most of his time in and around cemeteries, simply because he was convinced that he was dead and that such places suited his condition.
“I ended up spending time in the graveyard because that was the closest I could get to death. I just felt I might as well stay there. It was the closest I could get to death. The police would come and get me, though, and take me back home,” Graham recollects.
The disorder that caused this man to behave in this odd manner is referred to by psychologists as Cotard's Syndrome.
Given its symptoms, some prefer to call it the Walking Corpse Syndrome.
Sources say that Graham developed this condition after trying to commit suicide and failing.
By the looks of it, the man somehow ended up believing that his suicide attempt had in fact been successful, and that the only reason why he was still able to move about was because he was a zombie.
When doctors tried to treat his condition, Graham allegedly told them that their attempts to bring him some comfort would prove futile.
As he explained at that time, there was no point in treating him since he no longer had a brain and was already dead.
“When I was in hospital I kept on telling them that tablets weren’t going to do me any good ’cause my brain was dead. I lost my sense of smell and taste. I didn’t need to eat, or speak, or do anything,” Graham further details on what he used to feel like.
In time, Graham managed to recover from his condition. He needed both drugs and therapy in order to feel better.
Psychologists explain that this so-called Walking Corpse Syndrome is linked to depression.
While some of the people affected by this brain disorder are convinced that they are dead, others believe that just certain parts of their body no longer exist.
Cotard's Syndrome patients are known to refuse food, and psychologists claim that a few of them are so sure that they no longer need their bodies that they might try to get rid of it altogether.
Apparently, some have attempted doing so by pouring acid on themselves.