Thai Phengdara-Martinez

Capgras Syndrome

Capgras syndrome is a delusion that a person misidentifies or doesn’t recognize their

close relatives, friend and even neighbor. They strongly believe that the person who they are

trying to identify is an imposter or a double. There are four types of capgras syndrome. Capgras

syndrome is the delusion that a close relative or relatives aren’t the same person. For example, a

husband will say that his wife looks, smells, walks, and dresses like his wife but psychologically

he believes that the person he is staring at isn’t his wife. Fregoli syndrome is the delusion of

identifying a stranger with a familiar person. Intermetamorphosis is the delusion that persons in

their environment interchange with others. The last type is Subjective doubles, the delusion that a

stranger has completely transformed himself to look like the patient physically but not

psychologically. The diagnosis of capgras is that the person has some sort of psychotic disorder,

such as schizophrenia. Capgras can also be an indication of early signs and Dementia. The

person may show symptoms of hallucinating, delusions, depression, and anxiety. These

symptoms have a direct relationship with how the individuals brain changes. Capgras syndrome

is described as neurodegenerative disease that is closely related to a head trauma. It is also

related to dementia and Alzheimer's.

There is no specific treatment plans or procedure for Capgras syndrome because there

hasn’t been a lot of research on the syndrome that could effectively treat Capgras. Since, Capgras

is descried and closely related to dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s treatment can be given

to someone as if they had Alzheimer’s or any underlying condition. Treatment includes,

antipsychotic, CBT therapy, surgery and memory and recognition medications. Families with

people have this condition are encouraged to provide the person with a safe and comfortable
space that doesn’t have any external stressors. Family members are also encouraged to remind

the person who suffers from Capgras to provide them with frequent reminders of the time, date

and place they are at. Another helpful way that can help a person with Capgras is talking with the

doctor or family member about reality, grounding the person into reality. Caregivers and family

members are also told not to argue with the patient because that could cause stress, instead argue

with the person but also reel them into reality.

Capgras is a form of brain damage that prevents a part of the brain to recognize and

create an emotional response. The temporal lobe which is the part of the brain that is responsible

in facial recognition is affected here, following the temporal lobe the limbic is also affected

because here is where the brain is responsible for making appropriate associations with

emotional and personal responses. The three areas in the brain that can explain where capgras

occurs are in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe and the amygdala (limbic system). The effects are

cognitive distortions, thoughts of a person with capgras usually reflect on shame-based criticism.

These emotional cognition expressions cause the person to think in a black and white

perspective, inflexible and negative projections of themselves and others. They tend to take

things personally; overgeneralize things being said or situations. These individuals deal with the

all or nothing philosophy, they also tend to have a low self-esteem which can create anxiety and

depression. Capgras delusion deals with the disconnection between old memory storage and new

memoir formations. Due to the disconnection the person relays on past visual cue memoires and

thus when they see a person with a familiar physical appearance, they create the illusion of a

double. Here researchers explain that must be a brain malfunction between the right hemisphere

which is described to recognize an individual’s uniqueness and the disconnection of facial

recognition to then make an emotional or personal response.

 Behavioral impacts include a low self-esteem. The person causes inner arguments and

assumes that they are been judged and criticized to then be rejected by the person they are having

an interaction with. They tend to push people away who want to have a meaningful relationship

or who genuinely love them. They do this due to the fear of being left or rejected. The individual

also has a hard time committing to someone in an intimate relationship. These individuals will

settle for less in terms of relationship choices. They will even let themselves be in a toxic

relationship where they might even get abused. They will partake in these relationships to ensure

that they won’t be left alone by the person they are forming their relationship. Capgras syndrome

occurs with patients who have dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which most likely is

related to people who are older.

There is still a lot of research that needs to be done with Capgras syndrome, so there

seems to be no suspected environmental causes or behavioral causes. Since the syndrome comes

from an underlying disorder like dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson, all causes are in

relationship with these conditions. There is also no research that states is there is there a greater

prevalence in certain ethnic/cultural or geographical groups. In conclusion, this condition is still

being studied to determine a more specific treatment plan and it is still being studied to

determine the origins of the how the condition came about.

 References

Bier, D. (2018, October 08). Dementia and Capgras Syndrome: Handling Behavior and

Emotional Fallout. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/lib/dementia-and-capgras-

syndrome-handling-behavior-and-emotional-fallout/

Capgras Syndrome With Left Hemisphere Neurological Damage. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.13100276

Editorial Team · June 12, 2. (2019, April 10). What Is Capgras Syndrome? Retrieved from

https://parkinsonsdisease.net/clinical/capgras-syndrome/

Fletcher, J. (n.d.). Capgras syndrome: Symptoms, cases, and treatment. Retrieved from

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320042.php

Lambert, K. (2018, June 28). How Capgras Syndrome Works. Retrieved from

https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/capgras-syndrome1.htm

Lancer, D. (2019, January 27). What Is Imposter Syndrome? Retrieved from

https://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-imposter-syndrome/

Shea, A. (2018, April 22). Retrieved May 08, 2019, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsLolDgxUu4

The Capgras Delusion: You Are Not My Wife! (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/trouble-in-mind/201208/the-capgras-delusion-

you-are-not-my-wife