Capgras Syndrome, Out of Body Experience and Autoprosopagnosia: Case Study with Literature Review
Neurology and Neuroscience September 30, 2024 DOI: 10.33425/2692-7918.1069 (opens in new tab)
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA patient with both delusion (false belief) and hallucination (false perception) was diagnosed not with psychosis or schizophrenia but with Capgras syndrome and autoscopic phenomenon (out-of-body experience). The delusion involved believing a close relative had been replaced by an imposter, while the false perception involved feeling the self located outside the physical body. The patient also experienced inability to recognize his own face in a mirror (autoprosopagnosia). These symptoms occurred in an 18-year-old who had recovered from a subdural hematoma in the right frontoparietal lobes after a motorcycle accident, one week after leaving the hospital.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | 18-year-old male post head injury with subdural hematoma |
| Key finding | A patient with both Capgras syndrome and autoscopic phenomenon was diagnosed not as psychosis or schizophrenia but as having specific delusional and perceptual symptoms following right frontoparietal brain injury. |
Abstract
Psychosis, characterized by hallucinations and delusions, is a common feature of psychiatric disease, especially schizophrenia. In the case of psychosis, the subject suffers from delusion (false beliefs) and hallucination (false perception); the impression for non-specialists is schizophrenia. In this presentation the patient has both delusion (false belief) and hallucination (false perception), but the diagnosis was not psychosis or schizophrenia. The false belief represents the Capgras syndrome, whereas the false perception is represents autoscopic phenomenon (AP), i.e. out of body experience (OBE). Capgras syndrome is a 'falsely believes' that a close relative or friend has been replaced by doubles or imposters. Whereas the out of body experience -false perception- the subject feels that his/her “self”, or is located outside the physical body and somewhat elevated, from this elevated extra personal location that subject experiences seeing his body and the world. In addition, something's happening to the patient; he experiences an inability to recognize his face in mirror (autoprosopagnosia). All this occurred to an 18-year-old patient who left the hospital one week later post head injury, brought to my office with his father six weeks ago after complete recovering from subdural hematoma in the right frontoparietal lobes, post motorcycle accident.