The Capgras Phenomenon

The Frequency of Capgras Delusions in a Psychiatric Emergency Service

“…Recently, some authors have claimed that in most cases of Capgras' syndrome there is a localized or diffuse organic brain lesion [9,11,[16][17][18]. These observations are sup ported by our psychiatric emergency room sample.…”

Delusional Misidentification: A Clinical, Neuropsychological and Brain Imaging Case Study

“…How ever, although our patient was suspicious and felt somehow persecuted, the 'impostor' was not obviously ill-intentioned and the whole DMS tended to make the patient's desire to be with a boyfriend she loved become real, while important changes occurred in her life (she had been recently separated from her familyin order to reside in a new school). This sug gests some degree of wish-fulfilment in the psychological processes involved in the trou bles, as suggested by Merrin and Silberfarb [26]. However, these psychological forces alone are probably insufficient to generate a delusional misidentification.…”

Psychodynamic Approaches to the Capgras Delusion: A Critical Historical Review

“…Similar views were later voiced by Derombies [23] and Merrin and Silberfarb [24], while Christodoulou [25] and Todd et al [26] suggested that in some cases the CD may represent a delusional evolution of the phenomena of de personalization and derealization. Earlier, Stern and MacNaughton [27] had argued that because of altered self-perceptions, patients are confronted with an internal response to the environment that is novel and unusual.…”