#delusional misidentification

PT: Clinical pandorathropy. End PT.

The definition below includes the word "delusion", proceed at your own caution.

@radiomogai

Capgras Delusion

Imagine looking at someone you love: your mother, your partner, your best friend... and feeling completely certain that they are not really them.

This disturbing condition is known as Capgras delusion, a rare psychological disorder in which a person believes that someone close to them has been replaced by an identical impostor.

The syndrome was first described in 1923 by French psychiatrist Joseph Capgras and his colleague Jean Reboul-Lachaux. They documented the case of a woman who insisted that many people she knew, including her husband, had been replaced by doubles or look-alikes.

What does the person experience? People with Capgras delusion can recognize the face of a loved one perfectly. The problem is not vision or memory. Instead, the emotional recognition is missing.

Normally, when we see someone familiar, the brain automatically produces a feeling of emotional familiarity. In Capgras delusion, that emotional signal seems to be disconnected. Because the face looks right but feels wrong, the brain tries to explain the strange sensation, and the person concludes that the real loved one must have been replaced by an impostor.

When does it occur? This condition is often linked to other neurological or psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, brain injuries affecting areas responsible for facial recognition and emotional processing, and more.

In some cases, the person believes only one specific individual is an impostor. In others, they may think that multiple people have been replaced.

For the person experiencing it, the belief is completely real. They are not joking or pretending, they genuinely feel that someone who looks identical to their loved one is a stranger wearing their face.

Because of this, the condition can cause fear, paranoia, and emotional distress, both for the patient and for the family members who suddenly find themselves treated like intruders in their own home.

What is Delusional Misidentification Syndrome?

Delusional misidentification syndrome (DMS) is an umbrella term for a collection of delusions that involve misidentifying a person, object, place, body part, or the delusional person themselves.

DMSs are associated with neurological trauma, dissociation, and schizophrenic disorders.

Types of DMSs

DMSs typically involve misidentifying one of three things: the self, the other, and/or the place.

The self: These delusions involve the misidentification of the person themselves, or a part of their body.

The other: These delusions involve the misidentification of other people, pets, or objects.

The place: These delusions involve the misidentification of places or locations.

The Self

Mirrored self misidentification is the delusion that the person's reflection is someone else.

Syndrome of subjective doubles is the delusion that the person has a double (doppelgänger / clone) of themselves acting independently.

Cotard('s) delusion / syndrome is the delusion that the person, or parts of their body or organs, are dead, dying, or don't exist. Most people with this delusion have severe depression.

Clinical lycanthropy is the delusion that the person has turned, or is turning, into an animal. It can be considered a type of reverse intermetamorphosis.

The Place

Reduplicative paramnesia is the belief that a place or location (or, rarely, an object, person, or part of the body) as having been copied, existing in two places at the same time, or moved to a different location. Most case studies involve people reporting the hospital they are in is in their home town, when it isn't. "Paramnesia" is commonly called déjà vu.

The Other

Capgras delusion is the delusion that someone close to the person, such as a friend, family member, or a pet, has been replaced with an identical imposter.

Fregoli delusion is the delusion that other people are actually the same person in disguise. Capgras and Fregoli delusions often co-exist.

Intermetamorphosis is the delusion that other people can change their appearance and personality at will, pretending to be the person they are basing themselves off.

Delusional companion syndrome (DCS) is the delusion that objects (often stuffed toys) are sentient, and have their own sense of self, wants and needs.

What can be done for a person with DMS?

Option 1: Nothing. Psychotic people can live happy lives without any intervention!

Option 2: Therapy. This can include either accepting the delusion / going along with it, or trying to change it. It can be used in combination with pharmacotherapy (medication).

Option 3: Pharmacotherapy. Antipsychotics and other medication can help reduce symptoms. It can be used in combination with talk therapy.

૮ 𖦹 ﻌ 𖦹ა < there are partss of my body that eiither feel liike theyre rottiing or like theyve been replaced.. iit diissgusstss me lookiing at my arm iit doessnt feel liike miine and ii can feel my eye decayiing iin iitss ssocket.. ii dont know what to do..