The prevalence of Capgras syndrome in a university hospital setting

Capgras syndrome in children and adolescents: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES

To improve understanding of Capgras syndrome (CS) in the pediatric population, this study investigates its clinical features and discerns similarities and differences compared to CS in adults.

METHODS

We conducted a descriptive systematic review of case reports following PRISMA guidelines, including cases of pediatric patients with CS. Patient demographics, medical and psychiatric history, imposter identity, underlying diagnosis, clinical manifestation, treatments, and outcomes were extracted and analyzed.

RESULTS

We included 37 articles comprising 38 cases. The median age of patients was 15, with 23 (60.5%) being male. The most prevalent underlying diagnoses were schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders (47.3%). Imposter identity involved parents in 32 cases (84.2%). Associated symptoms included persecutory delusions (63.1%), auditory hallucinations (42.1%), aggression (31.5%), and depression (21.0%).

CONCLUSION

There is a significant gap in our understanding of CS, particularly in pediatric patients. This is the first systematic review of CS in pediatric patients, encompassing all cases found in English literature since 1923.

Capgras Syndrome Due to Cannabinoids Use: A Case Report With Radiological Findings

Capgras syndrome is a part of the delusional misidentification syndromes. In this condition, the patient believes that identical individuals have impersonated the people close to them, leading to aggression or even homicide of their relatives. The following article describes the case of a 28-year-old patient with a history of cannabis consumption who arrived at the emergency department due to an unsuccessful murder attempt against his neighbor. At the mental examination, the patient believed their parents were killed some time ago, and impostors were replacing them; laboratory tests showed tetrahydrocannabinol in the urine sample. Therefore, the diagnosis of Capgras syndrome due to cannabis consumption was performed, and treatment was established with two antipsychotics and one mood stabilizer drug, showing satisfactory results after two months.

Capgras delusion in postpartum psychosis: a case report

BACKGROUND

Capgras delusion is one of the delusional misidentification syndromes characterized by the belief by the patient that the close person is replaced by an imposter who looks physically the same. It rarely occurs in Postpartum Psychosis. An intriguing phenomenon with ongoing debates, particularly about its feature and prevalence, its course, occurrence, and phenomenon in the postpartum period are poorly understood.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 26-year-old Nepalese woman presented to the emergency for abnormal behavior on her 9th postpartum day. Capgras delusion was observed for 2 days during her hospital stay. Other psychotic symptoms appeared progressively and were treated as a case of Postpartum Psychosis.

CONCLUSION

This case describes the temporal sequence of various psychopathologies during Postpartum Psychosis including Capgras delusion. We attempt to explain the occurrence of Capgras delusion in Postpartum Psychosis.

Uncovering Capgras delusion using a large-scale medical records database

BACKGROUND

Capgras delusion is scientifically important but most commonly reported as single case studies. Studies analysing large clinical records databases focus on common disorders but none have investigated rare syndromes.

AIMS

Identify cases of Capgras delusion and associated psychopathology, demographics, cognitive function and neuropathology in light of existing models.

METHOD

Combined computational data extraction and qualitative classification using 250 000 case records from South London and Maudsley Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) database.

RESULTS

We identified 84 individuals and extracted diagnosis-matched comparison groups. Capgras was not 'monothematic' in the majority of cases. Most cases involved misidentified family members or close partners but others were misidentified in 25% of cases, contrary to dual-route face recognition models. Neuroimaging provided no evidence for predominantly right hemisphere damage. Individuals were ethnically diverse with a range of psychosis spectrum diagnoses.

CONCLUSIONS

Capgras is more diverse than current models assume. Identification of rare syndromes complements existing 'big data' approaches in psychiatry.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

V.B. is supported by a Wellcome Trust Seed Award in Science (200589/Z/16/Z) and the UCLH NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. S.W. is supported by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award (WT098455MA). Q.D. has received a grant from King's Health Partners.

COPYRIGHT AND USAGE

© The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.

Delusional misidentification syndromes and dementia: a border zone between neurology and psychiatry

The delusional misidentification syndromes (DMSs) are psychopathologic phenomena in which a patient consistently misidentifies persons, places, objects, or events. Although often described in relation to psychotic states including schzofrenia, it is, nevertheless, widely considered that these syndromes have an anatomical basis because of their frequent association with organic brain disease; studies have pointed to the presence of identifiable lesions, especially in the right frontal lobe and adjacent regions, in a considerable proportion of patients. The purpose of this article is to examine the phenomenon in people with dementia. We searched the electronic databases for original research and review articles on DMS in patients with dementia using the search terms "Delusional Misidentification Syndrome, Capgras syndrome, Fregoli syndrome, reduplicative paramnesia, and dementia." The DMSs are a frequent problem in dementia. The violence and dangerousness in patients with dementia having these syndromes are well documented, and forensic aspects are highlighted. Pathogenetic viewpoint and management are considered.

A variant of Capgras syndrome with delusional conviction of inanimate doubles in a patient with grandmal epilepsy

BACKGROUND

Capgras syndrome is the most common type of delusional misidentification syndromes. In this phenomenon, the patient believes the delusional conviction that a familiar person has been replaced by imposters. Capgras syndrome was thought to occur in psychotic and organic contexts. It has some rare variants. In one of these rare variants, the patient has the delusion of inanimate doubles. There are reports which regard the relationship between Capgras syndrome and epilepsy as a contributing factor. We present a case of grandmal epilepsy with psychotic features including delusion of inanimate doubles.

METHODS

A single case is reported.

CASE HISTORY

A 55-year-old woman with long-time history of grandmal epilepsy developed psychosis 3 months prior to her psychiatric referral. She believed that her sons replaced her possessions and furniture continuously. There was no history of previous psychiatric illness, and also there was no evidence of any other organic disorder.

CONCLUSION

Previous reports showed Capgras phenomenon as a clinical presentation in epileptic patients. We show that the delusion of doubles of inanimate objects as a variant of Capgras syndrome could also be a clinical presentation in epileptic patients.

Delusional misidentification

The Capgras syndrome and other forms of delusional misidentification may be encountered frequently in neuropsychiatric settings. DMS can occur in the presence of idiopathic psychiatric illness, in diffuse brain illness such as dementia, and in focal neurologic disease. In patients who have focal lesions, there is evidence that right hemisphere damage is necessary for the production of DMS. Although DMS is associated with a pattern of neuropsychologic impairments in the domains of memory, perception, and executive function, these impairments alone do not account for the selectivity and delusional nature of DMS. Therefore, other factors such as premorbid psychopathology, motivation, and loss of ego functions may be important in determining which vulnerable patients develop DMS and which do not.