Cotard’s syndrome in a patient with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder

Abstract

Cotard’s delusion is a delusion where one believes they are dead or deny aspects of their existence. Cotard’s syndrome includes expansive variation in presentations as well as inciting factors. Cotard’s syndrome is relatively rare and may include nihilistic delusions that one is missing organs, cannot die or that one does not truly exist. Cotard’s syndrome is often associated with other mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia but has not been widely associated with methamphetamine use. The following is a report of a patient with no previous signs of mental illness developing a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder with Cotard’s delusion after years of using methamphetamine.