Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-03T00:41:53.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Alireza Ghaffari Nejad  and
Khatereh Toofani
Alireza Ghaffari Nejad*
Affiliation:
Beheshti Hospital, Kerman, Iran
Khatereh Toofani
Affiliation:
Beheshti Hospital, Kerman, Iran
*
Alireza Ghaffari Nejad, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Beheshti Psychiatric Hospital, Kerman, Iran. Tel: +98 341 2117884; Fax: +98 341 2110856; E-mail: argnejad@yahoo.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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 In this phenomenon, the patient believes the delusional conviction that a familiar person has been replaced by imposters.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.

Keywords

Capgras syndromegrandmal epilepsyinanimate object
Type
Case Report
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 2006 , pp. 52 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Blackwell Munksgaard

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ellis, HD, Luate, JP, Rettersol, N. Delusional misidentification syndromes. Psychopathology 1994;27: 1117–1120. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Enoch, D, Ball, H. Uncommon psychiatric syndromes, 4th edn. London: Arnold, 2001: 1–19.Google Scholar
Taman, L, Karatas, G, Zeren, T, Ozpoyraz, N. The prevalence of Capgras syndrome in a university hospital setting. Acta Neuropsychiatr 2003;15 (1):290–294. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehr, U. A zoocentric Capgras syndrome. Psychiatr Prax 1999;26 (1):43–44. Google Scholar
Silva, JA, Leong, GB, O'Reilly, T. An unusual case of Capgras syndrome: the psychiatric ward as stage. Psychiatr J Univ Ott 1990;15 (1):44–46. Google Scholar
Anderson, DN, Williams, E. The delusion of inanimate doubles. Psychopathology 1994;27 (3–5):220–225. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malloy, P, Cimino, C, Westlake, R. Differential diagnosis of primary and secondary Capgras delusions. Neuropsychiatry,Neuropsychol Psychiatry 1992;53: 1011–1013. Google Scholar
Signer, SF. Localization and lateralization in the delusion of substitution. Capgras syndrome and its variants. Psychopathology 1994;27: 168–176. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weston, MJ, Whitlock, FA. The Capgras syndrome following head injury. Br J Psychiatry 1971;119: 25–31. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuller, GN, Marshall, A, Flint, J, Lewis, S, Wise, RJ. Migraine madness: recurrent psychosis after migraine. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1993;56 (4):416–418. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edelstyn, NM, Oyebode, F. A review of the phenomenology and congnitive neuropsychological origin of the Capgras syndrome. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 1999;14 (1):48–59. 3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Signer, SF. Capgras syndrome: the delusion of substitution. J Clin Psychiatry 1987;48 (4):147–150. Google ScholarPubMed
Lishman, WA. Organic psychiatry: the psychological consequences of cerebral disorder, 3rd edn. Oxford, UK: Blackwell science, 1998: 237–314.Google Scholar
Kanemoto, K. Periictal syndrome after clustered ictal fear: depth electroencephalogram study. Epilepsia 1997;38 (7):847–850. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drake, ME. Postictal Capgras syndrome. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 1987;89 (4):271–274. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lim, SH, Chee, KT. Schizophrenia-like psychosis with right lobe epilepsy: a case report. Singapore Med J 1985;26 (6):490–493. Google ScholarPubMed
Abed, RT, Fewtrell, WD. Delusional misidentification of familiar inanimate objects. A rare variant of Capgras syndrome. Br J Psychiatry 1990;157: 915–917. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castillo, PM, Berman, CW. Delusional gross replacement of inanimate objects. Br J Psychiatry 1994;164 (5):693–696. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Papageorgiou, C, Ventouras, E, Lykouras, L, Uzunoglu, N, Christodoulou, GN. Psychophysiological evidence for altered information processing in delusional misidentification syndromes. Biol Psychiatry 2003;27: 365–372. Google ScholarPubMed