Towards an Understanding of Delusions of Misidentification: Four Case Studies

Four detailed cases of delusions of misidentification (DM) are presented: two cases of misidentification of the reflected self, one of reverse intermetamorphosis, and one of reduplicative paramnesia. interpretation: neurological, cognitive and phenomenological. The findings are compared to previous work with DM patients, particularly the work of Ellis and Young (1990; Young, 1998) who found that loss of the normal affective response to familiar faces was a contributing factor in the Capgras delusion. The four cases presented suggest that this particular deficit is not a critical factor in the development of other forms of DM.