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In this article:
- Capgras delusion is a psychological condition in which someone believes that someone they know or recognize has been replaced by an imposter.
- Capgras delusion is most often seen in patients with schizophrenia or dementia, which can both alter one’s sense of reality and have a degenerative effect on memory.
- The changeling fairytale, a folkloric story about children being abducted by fae creatures and swapped with their own mystical children, may be an old account of Capgras delusion that had nearly fatal consequences.
You see your mother. You’ve seen her face a million times. You hear her voice, the voice you’ve heard since you were just a baby. There’s no question in your mind that this is your mother, the woman that raised you. You see your father. You see your brother. You see your sister. You know the faces of these people better than you know your own. You would never question that the person you’re looking at is your relative.
Well, for some people, this is not their reality. There are some out there that are completely convinced that someone they’ve known their entire life has, at some point, been replaced by an imposter. This mental condition is known as Capgras delusion.
In 1923, a French psychiatrist by the name of Joseph Capgras conducted a study on a patient, nicknamed “Madame M” for discretion’s sake, who became convinced that her husband was not her husband, but rather an imposter.
While this may sound a bit like an episode of The Twilight Zone, this is a very real affliction that can cause a lot of pain and anxiety in the people who experience it as well as those that care for them. Researchers are starting to learn more and more about Capgras delusion and its underlying causes. But, for now, many people throughout the world are still convinced that people they’ve known their entire lives are actually someone else.
What Is Capgras Delusion?
Capgras delusion is a psychological condition in which someone believes that someone they know or recognize has been replaced by an imposter. For example, someone may suddenly begin to believe that their wife of 30 years is actually an identical duplicate. In certain cases, the person may even begin to believe that their home, their pet, or any object around them has been replaced with an identical imposter.
There have been cases of Capgras delusion across all demographics but it is more common in women. There have also been cases in children, but they’re far rarer.
What Causes Capgras Delusion?
Capgras delusion is most often seen in patients with schizophrenia or dementia, which can both alter one’s sense of reality and have a degenerative effect on memory. In rarer cases, though, Capgras delusion can be caused by an injury to the back of the right hemisphere of the brain, which is the part that controls facial recognition. Such an injury can result in prosopagnosia or a lack of ability to recognize faces. Additionally, in rare cases, people with epilepsy can experience fits of Capgras delusion.
There are many different theories as to what exactly causes Capgras delusion. Some researchers believe that it’s a combination of both physical and cognitive causes, often spurred on by a feeling of disconnectedness in the affected. Other medical professionals think that it’s caused by a problem with the brain, such as a lesion, atrophy (degeneration of cells), or cerebral dysfunction.
Real Cases of Capgras Delusion
In order to better understand what Capgras delusion looks like in the real world, let’s look at some past cases of this condition that have been studied:
Matuszak and Parra
A woman named Mary became suddenly convinced at the age of 40 that her 9-year-old daughter had been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services and replaced by an imposter. She also claimed that, while she had given birth to twins, the hospital had confiscated the other twin and only made birth records for one of them. Sometimes, she would show up to her daughter’s school and start screaming, “Give me my real daughter! I know what you’ve done!”
Despite being reassured by medical professionals that her daughter was, in fact, her real daughter, Mary refused to believe it. She even claimed that she once saw a mysterious car drive by her while she was doing errands with her real daughter in the passenger seat.
All attempts to make Mary aware of her delusion proved unsuccessful and Mary’s daughter was eventually placed in the custody of the Department of Social Services. During the hearing, Mary’s daughter said, “I love my mother except for when she doesn’t believe I’m me.”
The medical cause of Mary’s delusion was relatively unknown and the pharmacological treatments given to her were, for the most part, ineffective.
Chhaya
This case of Capgras delusion occurred in a 24-year-old male who had previously received a wide range of mental health diagnoses including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and borderline personality disorder. He had also been in a motor vehicle accident; however, no brain damage was assessed from the accident.
The man expressed that he had a great deal of guilt from certain memories, some of which seemed to have never happened. He expressed remorse for the rape of his girlfriend and physical abuse of his mother, both of whom claimed that these claims were entirely false.
Additionally, the man believed that, because of his bad deeds, his real mother had been taken away by “government employees” who hoped to get him to confess to his transgressions. He also thought that his real mother had been replaced by an identical imposter.
The patient was diagnosed with schizophreniform disorder (a very similar disorder to schizophrenia that lasts only a matter of months instead of the rest of one’s life), which may explain the Capgras delusion.
Feinberg and Shapiro
The patient in this case was known to have had atrophy in the right hemisphere of her brain, which is most likely the cause of her capgras delusion. She had also come down with scarlet fever at the age of 5 years old, causing her to go deaf and communicate with sign language for the rest of her life. At the age of 76 years old, she started experiencing visual hallucinations and forgetfulness.
At the age of 77, the woman was discovered by her son sitting in front of a mirror and speaking in sign language with her reflection. When her son asked her what she was doing, the woman responded that she was talking to another person that looked exactly like her. Additionally, she said that this “other person” had a son that was identical to her own. It seems that she was mistaking her own mirror image for a real person.
While this woman’s case was different from many other cases of Capgras delusion, it still involves the patient failing to recognize a face that they have been familiar with for their entire lives. This patient, instead of thinking that someone else had been replaced by an imposter, thought that she herself (or her reflection) had been replaced by an imposter.
The Changeling Fairytale
While this fairytale from Sweden is not a confirmed, real case of Capgras delusion, it does bear a striking resemblance to the symptoms of Capgras syndrome. It is also a good illustration of why Capgras delusion can sometimes be dangerous. In the story, a family begins to believe that their child has been kidnapped by trolls and replaced with a “changeling,” or a deformed baby troll that’s believed to be evil.
In hopes of getting their own child back, the father of the child consults a wise old woman, who instructs the man to light a fire in the oven and place the changeling in the oven, pretending to bake it. One day, when the mother of the child was preparing to throw the changeling in the fire, the troll came back with the family’s real child and exchanged it for the changeling.
The changeling fairytale may be an old account of Capgras delusion that had nearly fatal consequences. Indeed, it’s impossible to say whether or not the characters in this fairytale were suffering from Capgras syndrome. However, it certainly sounds similar to more modern cases of this psychological condition.
