Delusional misidentification syndromes in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Delusional misidentification syndromes (DMS) are infrequently documented in conditions beyond schizophrenia, dementia, and focal neurological disorders.
• Existing literature rarely reports DMS in patients with primary psychiatric conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Observation:

• This report details two cases of DMS, specifically Capgras and Fregoli syndromes, occurring in patients with severe, treatment-resistant OCD.
• One patient also had paranoid personality disorder (PPD), while the other had a pervasive developmental disorder (PDD).

Findings:

• The study highlights the occurrence of DMS in patients with OCD, a phenomenon not commonly reported.
• The association between DMS and OCD may be rarer than previously thought or potentially underreported in clinical settings.

Implications:

• DMS in OCD patients might stem from a combination of obsessive fears and underlying cognitive biases or deficits.
• Cognitive factors like mistrustfulness (in PPD) or impaired theory of mind (in PDD) could contribute to the manifestation of DMS.
• Further research is needed to clarify the prevalence and underlying mechanisms of DMS in OCD and related disorders.