Joseph Capgras and His Syndrome

The Delusional Misidentification Syndromes

“…In his publication with Carrette (1924), Capgras considered the syndrome as a mechanism aiming at protection from unconscious prohibited desires (incestuous desires of a female patient towards her father). Luaute (1986) considers the pathogenetic hypotheses published by Capgras et al in 1924 as reflections of the psychiatric orientation of the coauthors rather than of Capgras himself and objects to the fact that the authors failed to consider the strong organic element in their patients' condition, in spite of the fact that the patient Capgras described with Carrette was mentally defective and suffered from Basedow's disease and the patient he described with Lucchini & Schiff was suffering from neurosyphilis.…”

“…Let us start with the interpretations proposed by Capgras himself. J .-P. Luaute (1986) studied the three basic publications of Capgras on the topic and interpreted the changing approaches of Capgras on the basis of biographical evidence. Luaute attributed Capgras' modifications of his original approach to influences by psychoanalytically minded students.…”

The Delusion of Inanimate Doubles

“…Though capgras him self intimated his feeling that this was an organic phenomenon, psychological theories rapidly became dominant [24], In recent years the pendulum has swung back towards or ganic formulations [1,20,[25][26][27], although the latest edition of an oft-quoted text contin ues to emphasise the psychodynamic basis of the Capgras symptom [28].…”

The delusional misidentification syndromes: Strange, fascinating, and instructive

“…However, in a later publication, probably refl ecting the ideas of his psychoanalytically oriented colleagues, he considered the syndrome to be a defense mechanism against unconscious prohibited desires [8].…”