Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case series
Capgras syndrome is one of the delusional misidentification syndromes, where the patient believes that a familiar person, particularly a loved one, has been replaced by an imposter or a double, and is a rare entity in clinical practice. Although the phenomenon is known to occur as a part of other ps...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2024-12-01
|
| Series: | Telangana Journal of Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/tjp.tjp_21_24 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841556319582027776 |
|---|---|
| author | Arghya Halder Sagarika Ray Manish Kumar Amit Kumar Bhattacharya |
| author_facet | Arghya Halder Sagarika Ray Manish Kumar Amit Kumar Bhattacharya |
| author_sort | Arghya Halder |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Capgras syndrome is one of the delusional misidentification syndromes, where the patient believes that a familiar person, particularly a loved one, has been replaced by an imposter or a double, and is a rare entity in clinical practice. Although the phenomenon is known to occur as a part of other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, it is not infrequently encountered in organic conditions such as cerebrovascular disease, dementia, and epilepsy. Thus, it is important to rule out any underlying organic etiology by the use of appropriate neuroimaging techniques whenever felt necessary. There are no clear-cut guidelines regarding the treatment of this condition, but atypical antipsychotics seem to be the first-line agents. In this article, we have described three cases, who presented with Capgras syndrome, in association with various other psychiatric diagnoses, such as cannabis-induced psychosis, recurrent depressive disorder, currently severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms, and schizophrenia. All the cases responded well after treatment with olanzapine, with complete resolution of Capgras delusions in the first two cases, and partial response in the third case, where there was a reduction in the level of conviction of Capgras delusions, and marked improvement in overall functioning. Thus, olanzapine could be a reasonable choice in treating Capgras syndrome in patient populations where there are no contraindications to prescribe this drug. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-eeb9f6a3b14640e7b48410b6de0f4319 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2772-8706 2455-8559 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Telangana Journal of Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj-art-eeb9f6a3b14640e7b48410b6de0f43192025-01-07T10:02:21ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsTelangana Journal of Psychiatry2772-87062455-85592024-12-0110218318710.4103/tjp.tjp_21_24Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case seriesArghya HalderSagarika RayManish KumarAmit Kumar BhattacharyaCapgras syndrome is one of the delusional misidentification syndromes, where the patient believes that a familiar person, particularly a loved one, has been replaced by an imposter or a double, and is a rare entity in clinical practice. Although the phenomenon is known to occur as a part of other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, it is not infrequently encountered in organic conditions such as cerebrovascular disease, dementia, and epilepsy. Thus, it is important to rule out any underlying organic etiology by the use of appropriate neuroimaging techniques whenever felt necessary. There are no clear-cut guidelines regarding the treatment of this condition, but atypical antipsychotics seem to be the first-line agents. In this article, we have described three cases, who presented with Capgras syndrome, in association with various other psychiatric diagnoses, such as cannabis-induced psychosis, recurrent depressive disorder, currently severe depressive episode with psychotic symptoms, and schizophrenia. All the cases responded well after treatment with olanzapine, with complete resolution of Capgras delusions in the first two cases, and partial response in the third case, where there was a reduction in the level of conviction of Capgras delusions, and marked improvement in overall functioning. Thus, olanzapine could be a reasonable choice in treating Capgras syndrome in patient populations where there are no contraindications to prescribe this drug.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/tjp.tjp_21_24capgrasdelusional misidentification syndromeolanzapineorganicpsychosis |
| spellingShingle | Arghya Halder Sagarika Ray Manish Kumar Amit Kumar Bhattacharya Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case series Telangana Journal of Psychiatry capgras delusional misidentification syndrome olanzapine organic psychosis |
| title | Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case series |
| title_full | Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case series |
| title_fullStr | Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case series |
| title_full_unstemmed | Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case series |
| title_short | Capgras syndrome, an interesting but rare phenomenon in Psychiatry: A case series |
| title_sort | capgras syndrome an interesting but rare phenomenon in psychiatry a case series |
| topic | capgras delusional misidentification syndrome olanzapine organic psychosis |
| url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/tjp.tjp_21_24 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arghyahalder capgrassyndromeaninterestingbutrarephenomenoninpsychiatryacaseseries AT sagarikaray capgrassyndromeaninterestingbutrarephenomenoninpsychiatryacaseseries AT manishkumar capgrassyndromeaninterestingbutrarephenomenoninpsychiatryacaseseries AT amitkumarbhattacharya capgrassyndromeaninterestingbutrarephenomenoninpsychiatryacaseseries |