The Syndrome of Intermetamorphosis

Abstract

A series of 15 patients suffering from the syndrome of intermetamorphosis or its variants is discussed in terms of this misidentification syndrome’s historical, classification, diagnostic, and psychosocial aspects. One case is presented in detail.

Delusions of Transformation of the Self

“…However, those born in the United States tend to provide a scientific causation such as robots, computer technology, or genetic engi neering as explanations for the alleged meta morphoses. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that delusional explanations are significantly influenced by the patient's sociocultural milieu [27], Psychosocial as pects related to misidentification including delusions of transformation are more thor oughly described in previous publications [2,25],…”

“…Misidentification syndromes are thought to be related to each other as they frequently co-occur [2,11]. In our sample, 13 cases exhibited more than one misidentification syndrome.…”

“…The central delusion associated with the syndrome of intermetamorphosis is the belief that others have experienced radical changes in both their physical and psychological identities [1,2,10]. The syndrome of subjective doubles (Capgras type) occurs when the affected person harbors the delusion that physical copies of him or herself exist though these copies have minds different from that of the affected person [7,11,13] .…”

“…In that year Courbon and Tusques published the case of a 49-year-old woman who believed that her husband and son had been transformed into people with minds and bodies different from their original identities. They called this pre sentation the syndrome of intermetamorpho sis [ 1,2], Since that time, cases have also been reported indicating that delusions of meta morphosis may occur in reference to the pa tient's own identity [3,4], Signer [5] has sug gested that beliefs about radical identity changes in regard to the patient's own identity be termed 'reverse' misidentification syn dromes thereby distinguishing them from those misidentification syndromes in which the misidentified objects are found in the patient's environment. Syndromes involving physical and psychological misidentification of the self may therefore be called the syn drome o f'reverse' intermetamorphosis [6],…”

Delusional Misidentification: A Plea for an Agreed Terminology and Classification

“…In deed, the literature is replete with examples of case reports where the described symptoms either do not correspond to the original defi nitions or insufficient information is given to allow an accurate classification of the present ing delusions: Signer [36] disputed the diag noses of 3 cases of the intermetamorphosis delusion, reported by Silva ct al. [37], label ling all as manifestations of the Capgras delu sion instead, one of whom also exhibited the reverse subjective doubles symptom. Similar ly, de Pauw and Szulecka [38] reclassified 4 reputed cases of the Fregoli delusion, occur ring in puerperal psychoses [39], as the phe nomenologically related intermetamorphosis delusion.…”