Contents:
- Medical Video: Don't Tell My Wife... | Capgras Syndrome
- What is Capgras Syndrome?
- What causes capgras syndrome?
- What are the symptoms of Capgras syndrome?
- How do you deal with capgras syndrome?
- How to treat people with capgras syndrome?
Medical Video: Don't Tell My Wife... | Capgras Syndrome
Capgras syndrome is a psychological disorder that makes a person feel very confident (even to the point) that friends, family members, or other people they actually know have been replaced by a fraudster. In rare cases, someone who suffers from this syndrome does not even recognize his own reflection while reflecting - believing that the reflection he sees is someone else who pretends to be himself.Have you ever heard of a case like this?
What is Capgras Syndrome?
People with capgras syndrome experience delusions that make it wrong / unable to recognize people close to them. People who have this syndrome think that a partner, family member (brother, sister, even his own parents), friends, and neighbors have been replaced by different but identical figures. In some cases, people who have this syndrome may also believe that a pet or a favorite inanimate object is a fraud, not the original.
They can still recognize the faces of the people closest to them. In a sense, they know that the person looks and physically looks the same as a husband / wife / sibling / best friend he knows well. However, he still insisted on assuming that the person was a stranger or replaced by a fraudster who was disguised, because they did not feel the emotional closeness with that person.
The latest case of capgras syndrome was reported in the 2015 medical journal Neurocase. A 78-year-old man in France is unable to recognize his own shadow when reflecting in the bathroom. In fact, clearly the shadow is a reflection of himself; the same body posture, the same hair, the same shape and facial characteristics, wear the same clothes, and act in the same way. Even so, the man felt confused because the "stranger" behaved exactly like and knew a lot about him after being invited to chat. He even brought food to the mirror with portions and cutlery for two people.
The name capgras syndrome comes from French psychiatrist Joseph Capgras, who first published a report on the disorder in 1923. Capgras syndrome is also known as "imposter syndrome" or "Capgras delusion." This syndrome is quite rare, but is more common in women.
What causes capgras syndrome?
The exact cause of capgras syndrome is unknown, but there are several theories that suspect why this psychological disorder can occur. Sor the theory calls that delusional caprasions possiblecaused by a disconnection between the visual part of the brain and the area of the brain that processes facial recognition reactions. The breakdown of this part can be caused by posttraumatic brain injury (especially on the right side of the brain), after a stroke, or due to excessive drug use, causing a person to be unable to identify someone they know.
This condition is similar to other conditions called prospagnosia, aka face blindness, which are both unable to recognize the faces of the closest person. But people with face blindness still experience emotional reactions to those sudden, strange faces. That is, even though they feel alien to the face, they know that they know these people. What happens to capgras syndrome is exactly the opposite. People with this syndrome recognize faces, but feel foreign and believe that the person is truly a stranger because they do not experience emotional reactions (such as affection for siblings or parents, or love for their partners).
A study in 2015 showed that cases of capgras syndrome were associated with hypothyroidism. In addition some other patients also have certain conditions such as epilepsy or Alzheimer's, which can interfere with brain function.
What are the symptoms of Capgras syndrome?
Patients with this syndrome are often misunderstood to have schizophrenic mental disorders, or often called "crazy". Even so, schizophrenia can trigger this syndrome because schizophrenia can cause delusions or delusions.
Capgras syndrome is not a psychiatric illness, but a neurological disorder. People who have this syndrome can still move and behave normally like other people in general, except when they meet people who are considered fraudsters (even though they know something close).
When interacting with these "strangers", they will behave strangely, be anxious, fearful, reluctant, look distant, anxious like when dealing with real strangers.
In some cases, people with capgras syndrome can be rude to people they consider as fraudsters. Women who suffer from this syndrome can even refuse to have sex with their partners to ask for separation, because they are afraid and absolutely sure that the person is not their legitimate boyfriend or husband.
How do you deal with capgras syndrome?
There is no specific treatment for dealing with capgras syndrome. Possible treatment istreat the underlying conditions. If your capgras syndrome is known to be caused by schizophrenia, then the schizophrenia is handled. If it is caused by a head injury, surgery may be done to repair damaged brain tissue.
Until now, the best treatment for people with capgras syndrome is psychotherapy. However, perseverance is needed in building the empathy of the sufferer without resisting the false notion. In some cases, prescribing antipsychotic drugs can deal with symptoms of delusions while anti-anxiety drugs can overcome anxiety and nervousness that arise when living with "strangers" around them.
How to treat people with capgras syndrome?
- Be patient and sympathetic to the sufferer. This syndrome makes the sufferer fear and anxiety
- Don't argue with the sufferer or don't try to improve the patient's perception.
- Admit what the sufferer feels
- Do things that can make sufferers feel safe. Give sentences that state that the sufferer is safe with you. Also ask the sufferer what they want, if you are still confused about handling it.
- If possible, ask the "stranger" not to be around the patient for a while.
- Use voice to communicate. Even though they cannot recognize you, they may still be able to recognize your distinctive voice and the people closest to it.
