Capgras syndrome is a
rare psychiatric disorder. It was first observed in 1923 by a French
psychiatrist. The patient is convinced that the people he knows have been
replaced by doubles. A person with such delusions is convinced that people in
her surroundings have been exchanged for people of the same appearance. The
problem is not face recognition by the patient who is functioning properly.
In 1991, a case of a
74-year-old woman from Scotland was described who, following a psychosis,
experienced this disorder. She claimed that her husband had been exchanged. She
refused to sleep with the double, moreover, she showed great concerns about her
safety. The woman easily recognized other family members.
Capgras syndrome may be
the result of damage to the connection of the cerebral cortex with the limbic
system as a result of mechanical damage. It is responsible for emotional
reactions to given objects / persons. It is also possible that the syndrome
will occur in older people. Most often, however, it is observed in people with
diagnosed schizophremia.
This syndrome,
otherwise known as syndrome Sozji, is a mental disorder belonging to a broader
group of so-called delusional misidentification syndrome. People with these
ailments question the veracity of the objects surrounding them. They claim that
objects or people have lost or changed their identity. In the case of close
relatives, patients do not show a problem with their identification, while they
do not show any emotional reactions typical for family members.
The main symptoms are
the patient's claim that people from his immediate family have been replaced by
extraterrestrial beings, robots or doubles. The patient cannot provide logical
proof of his accusations or their reasons. He shows a great deal of stubbornness
in his fears, not allowing interpretation other than his own. It is surprising
that they are not intrested in the swapped person. The patient is not looking
for a person, focusing only on the false identity of the double. These
activities may be accompanied by aggression or anxiety.
In the later stages of
the syndrome, it is possible that the syndrome of erroneous recognition in the
mirror. The patient may claim that he himself is not real and has been replaced
by a double. His suspicions may also be direct to parts of his body.
The patient usually has
no other symptoms. This syndrome usually affects the non-blind, while a number
of blind patients have been reported. In this case, the patients had delusions
related to the sense of hearing.
- How would you defend your opinion that a loved one would be replaced if you got this syndrome?
- Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
- Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zesp%C3%B3%C5%82_Capgrasa
https://portal.abczdrowie.pl/zespol-capgrasa
https://www.poradnikzdrowie.pl/zdrowie/uklad-nerwowy/zespol-capgrasa-przyczny-objawy-i-leczenie-zespolu-capgrasa-aa-1W9N-2NAr-WoYt.html
Comments
2. No offence, but that question is silly 😊 It depends on how burdensome a disease is. Mental diseases such as depression, or Asperger’s syndrome are pretty common and are much better than cancer. On the other hand, diabetes is better than schizophrenia.
3. Yes, I must say that sometimes I think that I am the only real person in the world and all the others are just artificial intelligences. The problem is that it is not possible to prove that I am wrong. Also, there is a concept of a huge simulation, like the Matrix. Some time ago I’ve heard an interesting theory. Imagine that you create a simulation of real world in which people are able to create their own simulations. After the total amount of simulations reaches millions, how probable is that it is our world which is real?
2. It's hard to tell. It seems to me that nowadays life with physical diseases is less difficult than in the past. Many such people are professionally active and they even play sports. Thus, mental illnesses appear to be difficult to treat and more difficult to control.
3. I never thought about that. I have always believed in the theory of evolution and it would be hard to believe that the world around us is just a simulation.
2. Having the choice I choose the third option - I would prefer to be healthy. If you are sick, you can also get a mental illness. In addition, suffering from serious illnesses exhausts the mentally ill and his relatives.
3. Yes, sometimes it happens to me. When I’m in a really bad mood and it doesn't work out, I wonder if we're the sims and that somebody is controlling us, so we don’t have any influence on it. Something like in the movie Truman Show.
I don't understand the question at all. If I had this band, I wouldn't have to prove what I think. A sick person behaves as if it were true. I've taken care of a mentally ill person and it's very difficult. Most often a delusional person doesn't let himself or herself think that he or she is sick. It is the relatives or people explaining this fact to them (e.g. doctors) who think they need help. The patient does not let himself be explained, no rational arguments speak to him.
Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
I don't know what to answer that question.
Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
Sometimes I feel like we live in a simulation. I believe that our universe is a simulation, most probably some kind of scientific one, means either with no security, or with some weak security, which one day will be broken through, if not by humanity, then perhaps by its successors or digital heirs.
Piece of cake, I would ask them for something really small but strongly connected to me. I would ask again and again for different subtle things until they say wrong and this would be my proof.
2. Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
Damn, though one but propably some body disease. I like dancing, walking and other stuff but being ill and not knowing about it or forgeting like Alzheimmer sounds even worse.
3. Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
Yes, many times. Only if you relearn the world from the basis you can truly move forward. I mean we where told some shit stuff during childhood and druing our time studying and there are a lot of errors in our way of thinking about surrounding world. We have to relearn putting many misbelieves and fake news aside in order to take a more accurate path. I wish to believe that I am getting close to it.
1.
In this post it is told that the patients usually have not logical explanations for their claims and it is not logical, so I guess that there isn't really a good answer for that.
Derealisation can be treated by e.g. meditation
2.
I think that mental diseases are very prvelant in our society. Depression and anxiety are common among us, so I think it depends on the severity of it. If I could function properly and live with it, then it doesn't really matter which one would I have.
3.
Yes, I have. Lucid Dreams are a interesting topic of how our reality can be created by our brains.
How would you defend your opinion that a loved one would be replaced if you got this syndrome?
How do I know? It is stated in the article that those who suffer from it may provide zero logical arguments in favor of their statements. Therefore, defending is not possible.
Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
They are actually cannot be separated. The mind is deeply rooted into the body, not like some pilot in the cockpit, but as a whole being. Therefore, physical condition directly steers mental.
Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
No, I haven't. And I frown on those who do.
I cannot imagine being in these people`s shoes and understand why they are behaving this way, may be they want to reject the reality and cannot deal with the fact that feelings have gone and they don`t feel emotions they experienced before and it is easier to believe that someone has been replaced. That is really difficult to be applied to myself, i can just guess.
Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
Hm..really difficult to answer. If you have mental disease, so you hurt your immediate family and make them suffer and if you have a body diseas, so you struggle yourself. I would choose body disease, I hope neither of these will ever affect me.
Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
Yes, however that is something really private I would not like to share here.
I also cannot understand this question clearly. If you are asking about my arguments to prove that a loved one was replaced, so it is difficult to answer when you haven`t got this syndrome. Because being the person without mental illness it is almost impossible to imagine how your mind will change.
Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
Honestly, I will not call it a choice. If I will really have a choice, I would rather be healthy.
But answering your question, I already have poor eyesight, it is called myopia. And I am living enough good with contact lenses and planning to make laser correction. What about mental illnesses, they scare me a little.
Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
Yes, I have discussed it with my friends a few times. What if we all live in a simulation, or if everything around as is just our imagination? But the truth is that we have never known it, so just keep calm and live :)
I have no idea. I really don't know such things. I hope I'm healthy and I won't have to think about it.
2. Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
The question is philosophical. You prefer to die or live with a mental illness. I don't want neither one nor the other.
3. Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
I never try to question nature. She knows what she is doing and let it stay that way.
I guess that I would think very differently if I were got such a syndrom. There would be not much of a common sense in my ations so it is hard to predict how I would react. I can only guess that the most of my concers would origin from the fact that I can feel a difference. I could not see a difference but I would feel one even if there wasn't any. The tricky thing is that it is all about people who are close to us so the feeling of a even slight change in their behavior or appearence might cause some serious suspisions.
Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
I would rather have none of those and even assuming that there is a choice seems a little bit wrong. HOWEVER if I had a choice I guess I would rather follow the principle that the most important organ in the organism is brain. Body is under control of the mind so if the mind is sick then the whole body is sick.
Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
I have questioned a lot of things in my life but I have never considered reality to be a simulation if that's what you are asking. Not everything is exactly what it seems but assuming that everything is fake is wrong as well in my opinion.
2. The important thing is that mentally-ill people are not aware of their disease. This makes life slightly more bearable for them, and less bearable for the people around. The question is whether you prefer the feeling of not being understood or everyone being too apologetic.
3. Only after a night with intense dreaming. When I wake up it sometimes takes me a while to start differentiating between the reality and my imagination.
2. It depends. But it isn't really a choice. If it was mild, I'd be fine with either of them. One can easily lead to another anyway. If it was something more severe, something that actually disturbs not only mine, but also others life in a heavy way, then I'd probably choose euthanasia. It's not legal in Poland though.
3. I have questioned it countless times. Be it imagination, simulation, dream, human 'ant farm' or anything else. Every of such thoughts is scary, because of one common reason. We're never sure what is real. Moreover we have no way of checking if particular thing is real or not. There's just permanent feeling of doubt and uncertainty. But because of above we shouldn't bother with it at all. It's not like we have any means to stop most of such scenarios (maybe aside from waking up from coma dream or something like that).
2. That’s a very hard question, i would have neither of those. And it depends of what kind of illness, with some of body diseases it is easy to accustom same with mental and sometimes both of them can be a very big problem in daily life.
3. Yes I have questioned nature of reality. My perception of reality is like in Matrix, that we really are in some buble with fluids connected to computer and all of it is a simulation.
2 / I am rather weak in health and therefore, it seems to me that I would choose the psychic rather than the physical. But comparing them is very difficult ...
3 / Yes, I often ask this question, but the more questions are born in my head, the more they become.
2. As a person who has skin disease (which will classify for body disease from the question) I think that this question is stupid because if I had any choice, I would love to be nothing more than healthy
3. A few times
1. Honestly, I really don't like this question. It forces you to think from the perspective of a mentally ill person who believes that their loved one is a double. And it's very hard to imagine how you'd defend your opinion when you clearly know that you'd be in wrong from the current perspective. Also, I'd be mentally ill, I'd probably think of dozens examples of proofs to prove that my loved one is not really my loved one anymore.
2. I would rather not have any kind of disease or illness, ha ha. But if I really need to pick one then I'd go with disease since losing your mind is worse fate than death in my opinion.
3. Wow, we're really getting philosophical here. Wouldn't be surprised if the next question was "do you take the red pill or the blue pill". ;) I often question the nature of reality, I think that's what makes all of us more than just animals. We always find new questions without answers but it never stops us from looking for said answers.
Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
1. Probably I would not defend at all, because it is logical that it is more probable that I got sick than that someone would actually change my beloved. At least I hope that I would keep a minimum of common sense and the ability to think logically rather than let someone convince me that I have a mental illness.
2. Interesting, but I never thought about it. If I had to choose, I'd probably choose disability rather than losing my mind. I have the impression that, despite everything, living with, for example, a hand prothesis would be easier for me than treating such a Capgras syndrome.
3. Sometimes I feel like I'm a host in a theme park ;). And in fact, I was actually discussing or even wondering myself whether the whole world is not just a simulation. Even as a teenager, I was fascinated by the Matrix film and the vision of the world there.
I think that the story could go on as: my cat suspects that me and my loved ones know that he is a bio-probe sent to our planet to spy on us and then pass the acquired information to the mother ship. Aliens may want to silence us by replacing us with robots with pre-loaded memory of real people.
• Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
I would not like to have such a choice and would prefer not to get sick of anything. In addition, mental illness is also a disease of the body - specifically, brain disease - of one of the organs.
It seems to me that in the future it will be easier to cure diseases of organs other than the brain - replacing them with artificial or artificially grown in the laboratory. the brain will probably be a little harder to fix.
• Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
I like the theory of simulation - if one day we are able to run simulations of our reality, then we should also suspect with a high degree of probability that we are already in such a simulation because someone could have done it before us.
2. Another very difficult question. It is difficult to say unequivocally. Every mental illness is terrible. Body suffering, however, is also terrible. I can't clearly answer this question. I pray for health every day and I would never like to experience such diseases.
3. Did I question this theory? I do not know. I have certainly talked and thought about it many times. Fortunately, I am an active person so I don't have much time in my life for such thoughts.
To be honest I have no idea. I just hope that me or any of my close ones, wouldn't ever get this disease. It sounds horrible, and I can't even imagine how hard it has to be to have it, or even have someone close who has it.
Assuming that you have a choice, would you rather have a body disease or mental illness?
Body disease, hands down. I can't imagine how hard and painful it has to be to have a mental illness.
Have you ever questioned the nature of reality?
I have never thought about it, to be honest. I choose to believe that everything is "normal" because it is scary to think that it isn't.