China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Capgras Syndrome (and Other Delusional Misidentification Syndromes)
Published in Alexander R. Toftness, Incredible Consequences of Brain Injury, 2023
One theory for where Capgras syndrome and other delusional misidentification syndromes arise is that something has gone wrong in the area of the brain responsible for attaching identities to faces—perhaps a memory disconnection from the “deep right temporo-parieto-occipital junction” (Staton et al., 1982, p. 32). It may be that people with Capgras syndrome have broken this part of their brain responsible for updating and maintaining the link between seeing faces and identifying people. As a consequence, each time they see what should be a familiar face it doesn't look right when they compare it to their mental representation of the identity of that person. Perhaps they mistakenly create new identities in the brain instead of linking new information to old identities (Ramachandran & Blakeslee, 1998). This would be like if a friend got a haircut and instead of your brain realizing that this was the same person but with different hair, your brain just went ahead and gave this person an entirely new identity. But in a person with Capgras, no haircut or other change is necessary for a new identity to be created.
Capgras’ syndrome
Published in David Enoch, Basant K. Puri, Hadrian Ball, Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes, 2020
David Enoch, Basant K. Puri, Hadrian Ball
ECT has been reported as being both successful and ineffective (Enoch, 1963; Nilsson and Perris, 1971). Hay et al. (1974) have even reported a case where ECT precipitated Capgras’ syndrome in a female patient already suffering from pseudohypoparathyroidism, but it is known that pseudohypoparathyroidism itself is associated with Capgras’ syndrome (Prescorn and Reveley, 1978). In another patient suffering from an endocrine disorder, i.e. myxoedema, thyroid replacement therapy resulted in a dramatic improvement (Madakasira and Hall, 1981), while a more recent case with “myxoedema madness” and catatonic features responded to a combination of levothyroxine and olanzapine (Shlykov et al., 2016). Most cases of Capgras’ syndrome occurring in a depressive setting respond to antidepressant drugs (Christodoulou, 1977; 1986). Mazzone et al. (2012) reported a case of Capgras’ syndrome in an 11-year-old girl, accompanied by auditory hallucinations, persecutory delusions regarding her “impostor” parents and depressive symptoms which responded to a combination of risperidone and sertraline.
Psychopathology
Published in Bhaskar Punukollu, Michael Phelan, Anish Unadkat, MRCPsych Part 1 In a Box, 2019
Bhaskar Punukollu, Michael Phelan, Anish Unadkat
Capgras’ syndrome: the delusional belief that a familiar person has been replaced by an imposter who looks identical or very similar to the person they know. It is more common in females and about 50% of cases are associated with schizophrenia.
Cotard and Capgras delusions in a patient with bipolar disorder: “I’ll prove, I’m dead!”
Published in Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2018
Mehmet Hamdi Örüm, Aysun Kalenderoğlu
Capgras syndrome is a psychiatric disorder which is characterized by persistent delusions that the patient himself or those close to him have been replaced by people who resemble them. The syndrome was first described in 1923 by Capgras and Reboul-Lachaux. It has been observed in functional psychiatric disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and some organic conditions [6].
Delusional misidentification in Parkinson’s disease: report of two cases and a review
Published in Postgraduate Medicine, 2018
The following misidentification syndromes have been described in association with PD. All of these syndromes were initially reported in patients with diseases other than PD. Capgras syndrome. The most common DMS, a person with Capgras syndrome believes a familiar person, often a spouse, has been replaced by an impostor, a substitute who physically appears to be the familiar person, but is not that person. This delusion of reduced familiarity has also been observed in the perception of places, animals, and objects [16,17]. To date, Capgras syndrome has been reported in a total of 30 patients with PD [14,18–20].Fregoli syndrome. This consists of the delusion that a familiar person, usually someone malevolent, appears disguised as another person, or other people. To my knowledge, only one case of Fregoli syndrome has been reported in a patient with PD [21].Intermetamorphosis. This delusion has been regarded as a combination of both the Capgras and Fregoli syndromes, in that a familiar person is thought to take both the physical appearance and the psychology of another person or other people. Rarely reported in PD, two cases of intermetamorphosis in patients with PD dementia have been formally characterized as such in the medical literature [15]. One subject intermittently mistook her daughter for her mother, and another persistently believed his wife to be his sister.Reduplicative syndromes. This is the delusion that a person, place, or event has been duplicated perhaps in several copies, and coexists with the original. When the duplication is of a place that coexists in a different location this is referred to as reduplicative paramnesia [22]. Reports of reduplicative paramnesia and reduplication of a person are uncommon in PD, but two cases of the former and one of the latter were identified in the above referenced DMS prospective study [15].