There was a fascinating program today on NPR’s “Fresh Air”. http://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/
The guest was Anil Ananthaswamy, author of the book The Man Who Wasn’t There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self, which covers topics like Cotard’s syndrome, a very rare mental disorder in which the sufferer is convinced he or she is dead, and Body Integrity Identity Disorder (also known as amputee identity disorder) in which a limb doesn’t feel like it’s a part of you. People have actually had healthy limbs amputated to feel better about themselves.
The human brain is truly a complicated organ and there is still much we don’t understand, especially when things go wrong. And please don’t ask me to explain this any further.
Maybe I should’ve saved this for Halloween.
References
Cotard’s syndrome — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotard_delusion
BIID — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_integrity_identity_disorder
The book is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Wasnt-There-Investigations/dp/0525954198/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1438115324&sr=1-1&keywords=the+man+who+wasn%27t+there