Delusional Misidentification Syndrome

"A rare disorder, in which a person holds a delusional belief that different people are in fact, a single person, who changes appearance or is in disguise."

Definition:

Symptoms:

Inability to recognize people you meet as individuals; paranoia; seizures; delusions.

The Fregoli Syndrome

Origins and First Case:

"The condition is named after the Italian actor Leopold Fregoli who was renowned for his ability to make quick changes of appearance during his stage act.

It was first reported in a paper by Courbon and Fail in 1927. They discussed the case study of a 27-year old woman who believed she was being persecuted by two actors who she often went to see at the theatre. She believed that these people 'pursued her closely, taking the form of people she knows or meets'. "

Causes:

Neurologists believe that Misidentification Syndromes occur when a pathway is severed between the fusiform gyrus and the amygdala. The fusiform gyrus still recognizes faces, but because there is no emotional response from the amygdala, the patient assumes that the person they are looking at is an imposter.

Case Study:

Treatment:

The patient was a 68-year-old housewife, with a 40-year history of delusional schizophrenia. In August 2004, she was involved in an accident, and was admitted to the Komagino Hospital in Japan. The doctors realized she had developed the Fregoli Syndrome when she began misidentifying another patient in the hospital as her husband. Although there was no similarity between the male patient and her husband and her husband had died four years previously, she was adamant that the male patient was her husband in disguise.

Because a part of the brain has been damaged, there is no cure for the disorder.

Delusional Misidentification Syndromes

Definition:

A group of rare conditions in which a patient consistently misidentifies people, places, objects, or events. There are four main types: Capgras Syndrome, Fregoli Syndrome, Intermetamorphosis, and Subjective Doubles.

The Capgras Syndrome

Works Cited

Definition:

Case Study:

Capgras Syndrome is a condition also known as the 'syndrome of doubles'. It is when a patient fails to recognize well-known people or places, and believes that doubles have replaced them.

David was a student before he was involved in a car accident that left him in a coma for two weeks. After he woke up, it became clear that he had developed the Capgras Syndrome. Whenever he looked at his mother or father, he would complain that they were not his parents, but imposters who looked like them. He also kept saying that he wanted to go to his house, when he was already there. David said that it only looked like his house, but that it wasnt his real house.

• Fregoli delusion. (2004). In 'Online Encyclopedia'. Retrieved from http://neohumanism.org/
• Feinberg, T. E., & Roane, D. M. (2005). Delusional Misidentification. In S Riggio (ed.), 'Psychiatric Clinics of North America'. Retrieved from http://toddfeinberg.com/accelsite/media/mediaFile3100.pdf
• Ramachandran, V. S. (2011). 'The tell-tale brain: A neuroscientist's quest for what makes us human'. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
• Turkington, C., & Harris, J. R. (2009). 'The encyclopedia of the brain and brain disorders: Third edition'. New York, NY: Facts On File, Inc.

Symptoms:

The feeling that people or places around you are not real and have been replaced by imposters; paranoia; delusions; hallucinations.

Origins and First Case:

The Capgras Syndrome is named after Joseph Capgras, a French psychiatrist who first discovered the syndrome with Jean Reboul-Lachaux in 1923.

The first patient was a French woman, referred to as 'Mme M', who complained that 'doubles' had taken the places of her husband and other people in her life.