What Is Meant by ‘Misidentification’ in Delusional Misidentification Syndromes?

Murai, Toshiya; Toichi, Motomi; Yamagishi, Hiroyuki

doi:10.1159/000029056

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In fact, while in Capgras syndrome, patients report that one or more well-known persons (usually family members) have been replaced by substitutes [4], it is interesting to note that this delusion of duplication was referred only to the professional caregiver and not to family members. In this context, it should be considered as the caregiver is at the same time both the nearest and the more extraneous person.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among delusional disturbances in DLB, Capgras syndrome represents the most frequent disorder affecting approximately 17% of DLB patients and is characterized by the recurrent and transient belief that a familiar person, often a close family member or caregiver, has been replaced by an identical-looking imposter [3]. Capgras syndrome belongs to delusional misidentification syndromes (see Additional file 1: Table S1), among which two major groups were proposed, based on content-specific misidentifications [4, 5]: the Capgras type (also including the Fregoli delusion, a delusional belief that one or more familiar persons, usually persecutors following the patient, are masquerading as several other people) and the Clonal Pluralization type. In the last, patients firmly belief that multiple exact copies of places, objects, self or others exist, such as in the misidentification of reflection, in the reduplicative paramnesia, and in the clonal pluralization of the self [6–8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An unusual delusion of duplication in a patient affected by Dementia with Lewy bodies

et al. 2017

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BackgroundDementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most frequent diagnosis of progressive degenerative dementia in older people. Delusions are common features in DLB and, among them, Capgras syndrome represents the most frequent disturbance, characterized by the recurrent and transient belief that a familiar person, often a close family member or caregiver, has been replaced by an identical-looking imposter. However, other delusional conditions near to misidentification syndromes can occur in DLB patients and may represent a major psychiatric disorder, although rarely studied systematically.Case presentationWe reported on a female patient affected by DLB who presented with an unusual delusion of duplication. Referring to the female professional caregiver engaged by her relatives for her care, the patient constantly described the presence of two different female persons, with a disorder framed in the context of a delusion of duplication.A brain 99Tc-hexamethylpropyleneamineoxime SPECT was performed showing moderate hypoperfusion in both occipital lobes, and associated with marked decreased perfusion in parieto-fronto-temporal lobes bilaterally.ConclusionsAn occipital hypoperfusion was identified, although in association with a marked global decrease of perfusion in the remaining lobes. The role of posterior lobes is certainly important in all misidentification syndromes where a natural dissociation between recognition and identification is present. Moreover, the concomitant presence of severe attentional and executive deficits evocative for a frontal syndrome and the marked global decrease of perfusion in the remaining lobes at the SPECT scan also suggest a possible dysfunction in an abnormal connectivity between anterior and posterior areas.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12883-017-0842-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An unusual delusion of duplication in a patient affected by Dementia with Lewy bodies

et al. 2017

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“…It is worth mentioning that as therapy progressed, this was the fi rst symptom to disappear: 'No longer is a different person coming every day, though he continues to be an impostor'. Recently, Murai et al [24] noticed this characteristic in one of their patients, who claimed that each of his brothers and sisters was actually fi ve different people, and the authors considered this as a different type of delusional misidentifi cation syndrome under the name 'clonal pluralization of a person'. In our second case report, the patient believed that different persecutors were taking the form of his neighbor, in addition to the fact that there were numerous doubles of his own self.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approaching Delusional Misidentification Syndromes as a Disorder of the Sense of Uniqueness

Margariti

Kontaxakis²

2006

Psychopathology

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Co-occurrence of the different types of delusional misidentification syndromes (DMS) implies a common pathogenetic substrate. Until now, theoretical explanations have strained to produce a collective approach, but have been trammeled by the initial definition of the syndromes (Capgras/Fregoli) that originated from the attribution of causal significance to the element of familiarity towards the misidentified object. In this article, we present two cases illustrating the co-occurrence of the syndromes and we attempt to propose a new approach to DMS. We hypothesize that a common potential pathogenetic factor underlying DMS could be a disorder of the sense of uniqueness. The ability to attribute uniqueness to the self and to surrounding people, objects, or places is a principal property of the adaptable mind that acts as a matrix for the identification process. We propose that although the term ‘identity’ encompasses the concept of uniqueness, this must be accomplished somewhere in a model of semantic processing of identity. Our approach is questioning the current view that this sequential stage is the PIN stage in the functional model of face recognition by Bruce and Young, and we attempt to see the disordered sense of uniqueness within the evolved form of the model of face recognition and delusional misidentification introduced by Ellis and Lewis. We propose that such a disturbance could result in an unstable identification process, vulnerable to discrepancies in perceptual, emotional, or memory input caused by psychotic or organic mental states, thus resulting in a breakdown of the identification process that inevitably leads to a delusion of denial of identity, or to a delusion of ‘doubles’.

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“…In the first three classic forms the patients' delusion exclusively refer to other people, while in the case of 'subjective double' patients misidentify another existing person, as if he or she was his own self. Unlike in the Capgras type of DMSs, in the clonal pluralization type including clonal pluralization of a person (CPP) and clonal pluralization of the Self (CPS) the basic feature is the delusional view on one's existing in plural numbers [4][5][6] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently its definition was narrowed down to the misidentification of places occuring in certain organic cerebral disorders, therefore it has been discussed as a neurological syndrome. Murai et al 4 have published the first case describing the delusional view on reduplication in functional psychosis and proposed the term clonal pluralization. When pluralization refers to the patient's own identity, the term clonal pluralization of the Self is used 5 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clonal pluralization, as an interpretative delusion after a hallucinatory form of autoscopy

Nagy

Tényi²,

Kovács

et al. 2009

Eur. J. Psychiat.

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HUNGARYABSTRACT -Background and Objectives: Delusional misidentification syndromes are widely present in several major psychiatric and neurological disorders. After reviewing the recent terminology and psychopathology of the double phenomenon in the literature, the authors present a case of a patient with dementia, vascular type, where clonal pluralization of the Self appeared as a secondary, interpretative delusion after a hallucinatory type of autoscopic experience.Methods: Review of the literature and a case report.Results: In the presented case the linear evolution and the interpretative aspect of the arising misidentification phenomena are predominant. The differential diagnosis and the distinctive characteristics of the presented case from other potential delusional misidentification syndromes are also discussed. Brain lesions and neuropsychological impairments seem necessary, but the full development of these syndromes depends upon the individual's responses to his or her defects as much as the defects themselves.Conclusions: Overviewing the broad spectrum of concepts on delusional misidentification syndromes, the authors emphasize the importance of those approaches which enhance the disappearance of the classical organic-functional dichotomy on the double phenomenon and which try to clarify the neurocognitive background of delusional misidentifications.

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What Is Meant by ‘Misidentification’ in Delusional Misidentification Syndromes?

Cited by 13 publications

References 9 publications

An unusual delusion of duplication in a patient affected by Dementia with Lewy bodies

An unusual delusion of duplication in a patient affected by Dementia with Lewy bodies

Approaching Delusional Misidentification Syndromes as a Disorder of the Sense of Uniqueness

Clonal pluralization, as an interpretative delusion after a hallucinatory form of autoscopy

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