Kapgra syndrome: symptoms, treatment, photo

Kapgra syndrome is a fairly rare mental illness. People suffering from this deviation, are sure that a particular person from his close environment is replaced by a double. Suspicion can fall on mother, brother, children. In addition, in some cases, the patient convinces people of the existence of his own double, which, according to him, is guilty of carrying out the actions allegedly on his behalf.

The essence of the disease

Mental disorder is named after a famous French doctor. It was Jean Marie Joseph Cappra who first noticed this deviation in his patients, singled out and described it. The psychiatrist observed how a particular individual accuses his comrade of being an impostor. Very often such cases he registered among the notorious workaholics who, because of chronic fatigue and continuous stress, accused their business partners or colleagues of being false, false.

CAPGRA syndrome is otherwise called delusional identification. In scientific literature, it is also known as the illusion of a negative double. Experienced experts say: the bizarre behavior of a sick person is sometimes accompanied by the conviction that a close relative, for example a spouse, is stolen by aliens and replaced with an exact copy. Remarks about the fact that a woman has the same appearance, habits, character, manner of behavior and features of speech, it is not impressive and does not affect perception. Conversely, they can aggravate the symptoms. A person starts to think that he lives in a whole world of doubles, and the doctor is no exception.

Clinical picture

The Kapgra syndrome is a paranoid obsession. It is of two kinds:

• A person is sure that there is a double in front of him. He sees him, talks to him, argues with his opponent, can touch him and so on. He shows it to the doctor, that is, the object is visible to everyone without exception.
• The patient does not physically see the twin. But at the same time he constantly feels his presence next to him. In this case, the double remains invisible not only for him, but also for society.

What is most interesting: a patient's suspicion can fall not only on a particular person, but also on an animal or an object. Hallucinations in a person with a personality disorder are not observed. Often a person even realizes that his perception of reality is abnormal and false. The doctors noticed that the disease is more affected by women. Sometimes it is accompanied by schizophrenia or trauma to the posterior region of the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for recognizing the faces of people and inanimate objects.

Specific examples of

As already mentioned, Kapgra's syndrome manifests itself as the accusation of people in that they are doubles, or the naming of oneself as such. Psychiatrists argue that most often under open suspicion are the spouses. A woman, tired of family life, suffering a tyrant husband, suffering from postpartum depression, who lost as a result of the tragic events of the child, refuses to go to bed allegedly with an impostor. She closes in her room in the key, buys a gun to protect herself. She knows other family members well. The reason for this behavior is not only the circumstances described above, but also various traumas and neuroses.

If the patient is confident in the existence of his own double, then he ascribes to him all his bad deeds. Sometimes he even shaggy, not remembering it. Very often the patient blames parents for abandoning his twin brother in infancy, sending him to adopt for another country. Now he grew up and wants to "recruit" the patient, make him responsible for his crimes or other misconduct. By the way, this deviation is accompanied by serious mental illnesses and conditions, therefore it is often called not a syndrome, but a symptom of a particular ailment.

Symptoms of

The syndrome of Kapra begins to progress after 30 years of age. Before that, it can be in a dormant, or latent, state. Although science knows cases when teenagers or even children are ill. For example, in psychiatry, a case is described where the first signs of an illness manifested itself in a 15-year-old girl. She was sitting with her brother and father in a cafe, and suddenly she suddenly announced that she was being drugged with narcotic substances. Already in a medical institution, she took her mother for an impostor, and called the night-time attendant a father who came only to cause her physical and mental suffering.

From this we can conclude that absolutely unexpectedly a person has Kapgra syndrome. Symptoms, in addition to confusion between people and twins, are manifested in the form of aggressive behavior. Firstly, a person is angry because they do not believe him. Secondly, he falls into a rage because of an imaginary threat. Afraid of someone or something, he can also become neurotic, intimidated, insecure, depressed and apathetic. Third, the patient begins to use violence against close relatives. Sometimes it even comes to killing all relatives and subsequent suicide.

Reasons for the emergence of

The clinical picture is described in detail by psychiatrists of world renown. They professionally studied the Kapgra syndrome: photos of complex patients, videos of the most delusional monologues, they are analyzed in detail, the correct conclusions are made. Instead, the causes of the appearance of the disease are still vague and not fully understood. It is said that the main push is the damage to the back of the right hemisphere of the brain, which controls the recognition and recognition of the appearance of people, the appearance of objects. To this may result in a severe head injury or an unsuccessful operation.

Another hypothesis states that the appearance of the syndrome has a psychological, not a physical basis. That is, this can lead to a very strong stress experienced by the patient. Often the disease begins to progress much later than the tragedy occurred. That is, after an accident, it may take several months, years, even decades, before the syndrome begins to develop. Some psychiatrists admit that the propensity for ailment is embedded in the womb of the mother. Others argue: it becomes the consequence of a heavy childhood or authoritarian education.

The main forms of the

syndrome Doctors say that the mentally unstable personality is particularly vulnerable to this ailment. In addition, they distinguish several forms of the disease:

1. Fregoli Syndrome. This is a "mirror" version of the disorder described above, when the patient "recognizes" relatives in strangers. The Kapgra and Fregoli syndrome are very similar in their essence and manifestations.
2. The phenomenon of an incubus is a psychic deviation, when the patient starts to assure that during night dreams he comes into sexual contact with an imaginary lover.
3. The phenomenon of delusional hermaphroditism. Described in 1999.He was first discovered by a young man who was trying to convince doctors that he was the object of persecution of a literary character, who was settling in people around him.

Some patients say that in the middle of them lives another person who talks to them, controls their actions and even drinks all the vital juices. Other patients mention the microorganisms that they allegedly infect.

Is it possible to cure the disease?

It all depends on the basis on which the Kapgra syndrome developed. For example, if he was found in a patient already schizophrenic, then he can be quickly helped. Properly prescribed medications suppress even a very alarming state, constantly arising fears and suspicions. If the cause of the syndrome is head trauma, then the doctors do not prescribe treatment for the syndrome for some time, giving the brain the opportunity to adjust their work. In most cases, the gray matter alone suppresses imaginary images that reproduce in his imagination.

As for the experienced stresses, in this case it is quite difficult to heal the patient. Having survived a tragic event, he is so locked up in his fictional world that it's not easy to reach him. Moreover, he himself does not want to be "extracted" from the depths of fantasy. Despite this, prescribed psychotropic therapy helps to control the condition, making a person safe for society. After all, possessed by constant paranoid fears, he is capable of causing great harm not only to his family, but to many other people. Such patients are potential killers, maniacs and terrorists.

Therapy

Its duration depends on the degree of severity, the form of the disease, its neglect. It can be argued that almost always doctors help the patient forget what is Kapgra syndrome. Treatment can last several years, but there are cases when the patient gets rid of the disease in just ten weeks. In any case, the doctor weighs all the features of the disease in a particular person and appoints him individual therapy. For example, antiepileptic drugs help to eliminate delusions.

Treatment can be directed to the establishment of resistance to the psyche. It must resist a false system of error. In these cases, cognitive methods are very effective, which include testing the perception of reality and reframing procedures aimed at rethinking the reality, restructuring the mindset in order to eliminate the wrong mental patterns. Neuroleptics and other therapeutic methods and agents can also be used with relative success.